One Piece: tale of the Cold Magician
by DarkLord98
Summary: There's another pirate on board the Going Merry with his own dreams and ambitions. Follow the Straw Hat Pirate Crew as they begin their journey to the Grand Line on the adventure of their lives. OCxNami. HIATUS, MOST LIKELY GOING UNDER REWRITE.
1. Charecter info

Name: Edward D. "Grimm Reaper" FullBlack

Gender: Male

Age: 18 or so

Elemental affinities: revealed later on


	2. Chapter 1

**I'm back! on this story with renewed vigour! I'm going to warn you now, my OC will have a different name and tricks and there will be slight hint to his powers**

* * *

It was another great day and Monkey D. Luffy was drifting along in his tiny sail boat and enjoying the good weather while the waves took him wherever they pleased. But this was no ordinary boy in a boat. This was a boy with a dream and was challenging the vast, treacherous seas in a tiny boat while looking for extraordinary men for his pirate crew.

"Wow, what a great day," Luffy said to himself. He was wearing Shanks' straw hat as well as a button-up red vest, a pair of blue shorts, and a simple pair of sandals. "The weather's so nice. Who'd have thought this voyage would end in disaster so soon."

What Luffy was saying was true because up in front of him was a giant whirlpool, it had already started sucking his tiny boat in, "Hard to believe I'm getting sucked into this giant whirlpool, maybe I was a little careless. I could use somebody to help… but there's nobody around. Oh well, can't be helped."

Despite being doomed to be sucked into a whirlpool, Luffy seemed to be in high spirits. "Down I go!" Luffy exclaimed. "Too bad I can't swim. Hahaha, what was I thinking? In a giant whirlpool it doesn't really matter if I can swim or not." And thus Luffy was sucked into the whirlpool, never to be seen again.

Well… that's highly unlikely. If Luffy died there we wouldn't have much of a story would we?

* * *

Sometime later on an uncharted island a pirate ship was anchored. The pirate ship was feminine looking with pink paint, hearts on the sails, and a swan figurehead. The skull and crossbones flag that they were flying featured the skull in a profile view with a heart on the side of its head. The ship was currently at rest but the crew was having some slight problems.

"Why is there dust on my bulwark?" questioned the ship's female captain.

"A thousand pardons, Lady Alvida!" one of her pirates timidly apologized, "I-I thought I'd cleaned every inch of this ship! I'll clean everything all over again! Please…"

"Please what?" the incredibly cruel and incredibly fat, Lady Alvida asked. Alvida was fat with dark hair, bright red lips, fancy clothing, and always wore a white cowboy hat. She was a large woman and was nearly twice the size of her largest pirate. Alvida was given the nickname 'Iron Mace' Alvida for the giant iron mace that she always carried around.

"Please, not the iron mace! I don't wanna die!" the frantic pirate begged, but his pleas fell on deaf swung her mace and connected with the pirate's back. The pirate fell to the ground in a heap. Alvida didn't know if he was dead or not, because frankly, she didn't care.

"Coby!" Alvida called out as she turned to a young lavender-haired boy with glasses, a white shirt, and black pants. The timid boy seemed out of place of on the swan-shaped ship that was filled with pirates. "Who is the fairest throughout all the seas?"

"Ahem… why… y-you are Lady Alvida," the nervous boy replied, afraid of what Alvida might do to him. "N-no one compares to you!"

"Correct," Lady Alvida stated, "which why I can not allow _anything_ to be dirty. This ship must be as clean and beautiful as I am. Understand? Remember Coby, if it wasn't for your vast knowledge of the seas, I would have fed you to the sharks! But don't push your luck!"

"Y-yes, that's very kind of y-you," Coby replied, who was still very nervous.

"Other than that, you're worthless!" Alvida snarled as she slammed one of her feet down on a box in front of Coby "Now, shine my shoes!"

"Yes, Lady Alvida, right away!" Coby agreed as he quickly went to work. After all he did not want to invoke the wrath of the infamous lady pirate, 'Iron Mace' Alvida. Even though she was unbelievably fat, she had a lot of power and everyone cowered at the sight of her giant mace.

"I don't want to see a speck of dust on this ship!" Alvida announced to her crew.

"Aye aye!" they agreed as they scurried around cleaning as fast as they could.

"That's enough," Alvida snapped as he kicked Coby away with her foot, "You're pathetic!"

"Heh, heh," Coby laughed nervously, "sorry."

"If you have time to grovel, then you have time to clean the toilet!" Alvida ordered.

"Heh, heh, yes Lady Alvida," Coby answered, "right away!"

* * *

A little while later Alvida's ship was docked and the pirates were unloading their stolen treasures into Alvida's keep safe. Coby was rolling a giant barrel filled with something heavy when three of Alvida's pirates cornered him.

"What's that Coby?" one of the pirates inquired, "Did a barrel of grog wash up onto the beach?"

"Y-yes," Coby stammered in reply, "And it's not empty. I wasn't sure what to do with it."

"Well I know what to do with it," said a second pirate, "Let's drink it all!"

"But what if Lady Alvida finds out?" asked the first pirate.

"She'll never find out," the third pirate decided. "We're the only one's here. Just Coby and the three of us know about this."

"I guess you're right," the second pirate relented.

"And you ain't seen nothin', right Coby?" questioned the third pirate as he glared at the small boy.

"Right! I-I ain't seen nothin'!" Coby agreed. "P-please don't hit me…"

Suddenly the top of the barrel smashed open and a boy of seventeen, wearing a straw hat, red vest, and a pair of blue shorts, popped out. Luffy was alive! "WOOOW! WHAT A GREAT NAP!" Luffy shouted for everyone in the vicinity to hear, "Hmm, it looks like I survived… somehow. Hahaha, I got so dizzy I thought I was gonna barf!"

Then for the first time Luffy noticed the three pirates and the kid, who were all very shocked to see him. "Who are you guys?" asked Luffy, while at the same time the pirates shouted, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"What are you doing in there?" questioned one of the pirates.

Lady Alvida came crashing into the shack and kicked the barrel, knocking it over and sending it rolling away. Coby quickly ran after the barrel as Lady Alvida stood over the three pirates.

"Back to work you scurvy dogs!" Alvida ordered, "You lazy swabbies, who is the fairest throughout all the seas?"

"You are Lady Alvida!" the three pirates chorused.

"And you dare to defy me?" Alvida snapped as she glared at one of the pirates.

"W-what? I would never?" the scared pirate stammered in reply

"Don't play dumb!" Alvida growled, "I could hear you talking all the way from the ship. Which one of you had such a 'great nap'?"

The three pirates were terrified, they hadn't said it. That weird boy in the barrel did. "Uh, Captain, we have an intruder," said one of the pirates in an attempt to removed Alvida's wrath from them.

"Yeah," another added. "That good-for-nothing Coby brought that strange feller here!"

"What?" questioned Alvida, "could he be a bounty hunter after the price on my head? Coby! That brat dares to betray me!"

"Could it be him?" one of the pirates wondered, thinking of a famous bounty hunter.

"Nonsense, I heard that he was captured by the marines," another pirate replied.

"If he's the real thing, he must have escaped by now," said Alvida, "That notoriously evil Roronoa Zoro!"

* * *

A little while away Coby was talking with the person who actually came out of the barrel, and this guy definitely wasn't a pirate hunter.

"Are you alright?" Coby asked the boy in the barrel, "You got knocked pretty far!"

"Hahaha! I'm fine," Luffy laughed, "I'm just a little dizzy. I'm Luffy, but where am I?"

"This is the hiding ground for 'Iron Mace' Alvida," Coby explained, "I work as a Cabin Boy on the ship. My name's Coby."

"I see," said Luffy as he climbed out of the barrel, "but that's not important."

"What?" questioned Coby. Luffy had been kind of blunt with that remark.

"Do you have a boat?" asked Luffy. "Mine got caught in a whirlpool."

"A w-whirlpool?" Coby repeated. "You got sucked into a whirlpool?"

"Yeah," Luffy answered, "It was really scary."

"A normal person would have died from that!" Coby exclaimed, "You… you want a boat? I have one but…" Coby trailed off as he walked off and showed Luffy a small boat that he had made himself.

"What is it?" asked Luffy, not worried about hurting Coby's feelings, "a coffin?"

"It's a boat I've been secretly working on for two years!" Coby snapped.

"Two years?" questioned Luffy, "And you don't want it any more?"

"Yeah," Coby answered, "I don't want it anymore. I was going to run away in this, but I don't have the guts to do it. I'm going to be a caretaker for the rest of my life. Although, I do have something else I want to do."

"Then you should leave," Luffy stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, I can't!" Coby refused, "Whenever I think of Lady Alvida finding out my legs turn all mushy. I get so scared… that day I was only planning on fishing, but I walked onto her ship instead. And I have to become the cabin boy on the ship for the passed two years to stay alive."

"Hahaha! You're a coward," Luffy laughed, "I don't like you."

At first Coby was upset and shocked at what Luffy had said and how he had said it while laughing, but then he realized what Luffy said was true, "But you're right," Coby admitted, "If only I was brave enough. Luffy, why do you sail?"

"Because… I WANNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy announced.

"What?" Coby exclaimed, "the Pirate King is supposed to be a person who has everything in the world. Are you telling me you're looking for Gold Roger's treasure? _One Piece_? Do you want to die or something? All the pirates on the Grand Line are looking for that treasure!"

"Well, so am I," Luffy replied, he didn't really care about the other pirates. If he came across them, he'd just beat them up.

"Impossible, impossible!" Coby shrieked, "Absolutely impossible! To become the Pirate King in the Great Pirate Era is IMPOSSIBLE!"

Suddenly Luffy punched Coby in the face and knocked him down, "Ow! Why'd you hit me?" questioned Coby.

"You were rambling," Luffy told him.

"Oh… well, I'm used to it anyway," Coby mumbled.

"I'm not afraid of dying," Luffy stated, "Because it's my dream! And that's why I won't mind dying for it! Besides I think I could do it, even if it does get pretty tough."

"_Amazing!"_ Coby thought to himself, _"He won't even mind death! I never thought of that. Would I also be able to achieve me dream if I'm willing to die?"_

"Huh?" questioned Luffy, who only heard Coby muttering to himself.

"Do you think I'll be able to become a marine?" asked Coby.

"A marine?" Luffy repeated.

"Luffy, I know this means we'll be enemies," said Coby, "But joining the marines and catching bad guys has always been my dream! Do you think I could do it?"

"I wouldn't know," Luffy answered with a shrug, he was trying to be a pirate, the opposite of a marine.

"I have to at least try," Coby told him, "I'd rather die trying to get out of her and join the marines, than stay here as a caretaker for the rest of my life! And then I'll be able to arrest bad guys like Alvida!"

"WHO DID YOU SAY YOU WERE GOING TO ARREST, COBY?" Alvida shouted as she arrived on the scene followed by her pirates. Alvida brought her mace down on Coby's boat and smashed it to pieces.

"My boat!" Coby cried as he saw the boat he had been working on for two years, crushed before his very eyes.

"Do you really think you can escape from me?" questioned Alvida, who then noticed Luffy, "Is that who you hired to capture me? He's not Roronoa Zoro! Anyway, before you die, I have to ask you. Who is the fairest throughout the seas? Coby?"

"Th-that'll be…" Coby stammered, clearly intimidated by Alvida. But that wasn't what was running through Luffy's mind.

"Who's that fat lady?" he asked.

Coby, Alvida, and all of Albida's gasped in shock at what the weird kid had said. No one spoke that way about Alvida!

"Luffy run!" Coby urged his friend, "Throughout all the seas Lady Alvida is the number one…"

"_I'm not afraid of dying," _Luffy's bold words echoed in Coby's mind,_ "Because it's my dream! And that's why I won't mind dying for it! Besides I think I could do it, even if it does get pretty tough." _Luffy wasn't afraid of dying while he was attempting to accomplish his dream, and here Coby was a sniveling cowards working for two years as a Cabin Boy for some ugly old hag… well no more! Coby wanted to become a marine, and marines aren't afraid of pirates.

Coby took a deep breath and finished what he was saying, "…THE NUMBER ONE UGLY OLD HAG!"

Alvida's pirates stared in shock while Luffy started laughing hysterically. "HAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Alvida glared at Coby, who looked surprised at what he had just said. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Alvida roared in outrage.

"I don't regret it," Coby said out loud, "I already said I'd fight for my dreams! I'm going to become a marine and fight pirates like you!"

"Well said Coby," Luffy commented as he moved in front of Coby, "Good for you!"

"It makes no difference to me!" Alvida shouted as she lifted her mace and prepared to bring it down on Luffy, "YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!"

The mace went crashing down on Luffy's back, but to everyone's surprise, Luffy was still smiling, "That didn't hurt!" Luffy announced, "Cause my body is made of rubber!"

"Im-that's impossible!" Alvida stammered, no one had ever survived being hit by her mace, "My mace!"

Everyone stared in shock as Luffy brought back his arm, with the heavy mace still on his head, "GUM… GUM… PISTOL!" Luffy's arm shot out and punched Alvida right in the face, the self-proclaimed Pirate Queen was knocked out and went flying backwards, taking out half of her crew due to her large size.

"His arm…" gasped one of he pirates who hadn't gotten knocked down by Alvida, "His arm stretched like rubber!"

"Lady Alvida was defeated by this monster!" another exclaimed.

"Give Coby a boat!" Luffy ordered. "He's going to join the Marines!"

The pirates agreed and quickly did as Luffy commanded. They got a Luffy and Coby a small boat and in no time they were out of there.

* * *

"You actually ate the Gum Gum Fruit?" Coby exclaimed a little while later, while he and Luffy were floating in their small boat, "Incredible! But Luffy, if you're going after the One Piece that means you have to enter the Grand Line!"

"Yep!" Luffy answered enthusiastically.

"But that place is known as the graveyard of pirates!" Coby exclaimed.

"Yeah that's why I need a strong crew," Luffy replied. "That guy being held by the Marines, what's his name?"

"Roronoa Zoro?" Coby supplied.

"If he's a good guy I'll ask him to join me," said Luffy with a goofy smile.

"WHAT?" Coby screamed. "You're dreaming again! Never… that'll never happen, he's a demonic monster!"

"We can't be sure about that yet," Luffy pointed out.

"It'll never work!" Coby snapped.

And so the two boys sailed off towards the Marine Base and their destiny. Luffy was now more excited than ever to find a crew, and Zoro was going to be his first choice… unless something else distracted him along the way. Luffy was known to have a short attention span, it happened a lot actually.

* * *

"A demonic monster huh?" asked Luffy as they kept sailing towards the Marine Base.

"Yes, Luffy," Coby answered, "Roronoa Zoro is known as 'the Pirate Hunter' he's a really scary person. He's like a bloodthirsty shark. He wanders around the sea, hunting pirates for the bounties on their head… he's a demon in human form!"

"Oh really?" questioned Luffy.

"So let's drop the idea of recruiting him," Coby suggested.

"I haven't decided if I wanted to recruit him yet," Luffy replied, "But if he's a good person then I'll…"

"He was arrested because he's bad!" Coby interrupted. Luffy didn't seem to get it, people get arrested by the marines because they're bad… right?

* * *

A few hours later, Luffy and Coby had arrived at the small port town of Shell Town which was known for having a Marine's Bases. Despite being on an island that was probably swarming with marines, Luffy couldn't be happier.

"WE'RE FINALLY AT THE MARINE BASE!" Luffy announced, getting a lot of attention.

"Yep finally," Coby agreed a lot quieter than his loud-mouth companion.

"You're great Coby," Luffy congratulated his temporary nagivator. "We actually reached out destination!"

"Of course," Coby replied. "That's the basics of navigation! If you keep randomly floating around you'll never become a pirate. You should find a Navigator for your crew."

"Yeah, that's what I'll do!" Luffy decided. "Now let's go eat."

* * *

Luffy and Coby found a tavern which was set up like a restaurant and a bar, kind of like the one back in Fuchsia Village. Luffy spent the next few hours eating a ridiculously large amount of food and and wasn't shy about commenting about their waiter's tattoo.

"Well now we go our separate ways," said Luffy, once he and Coby were full, "Do your best. I hope you become a great marine."

"I will, thank you so much!" Coby replied, "Luffy I hope you become a great pirate. Even if that means we'll become enemies."

"Say, I wonder if Roronoa Zoro is still being kept at the Marines Base?" wondered Luffy out loud. Luffy looked up in and saw all of the other occupants of the restaurant cowering against the wall. The only person who wasn't whimpering in a corner was the waiter with his hair covering the left side of his face. In fact he looked a little bit amused.

"Maybe we shouldn't say that name out loud around here," Coby whispered to Luffy, "I saw a notice on the streets that said Captain Morgan is at this base."Once again all the other customers at the restaurant dove behind their tables. But once again, the waiter was unaffected. The one-eyed waiter shook his head at the customers then turned to Luffy and Coby.

"Not that I mind, but you should probably stop that," he said calmly. "The boss probably wouldn't like you scaring all of the customers."

Luffy eyed the waiter carefully, he was young, about Luffy's age maybe a bit older, he stood at six feet, a little over four inches taller than Luffy. He had black hair that was cut short and his visible right eye was black. He was wearing a short-sleeved grey button down shirt and a pair of navy pants and on his arm was a strange tattoo that had the kanji for Greatsword (_Daitō)_.

Luffy stared at the waiter as he continued to shovel food in his mouth, there were no physical signs that he was thinking, but for some reason Luffy felt that the waiter looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place him. The waiter glanced quickly at Luffy's straw hat then walked off into the back room. Luffy just shrugged, it would come to him eventually.

* * *

"Hahaha! What a great restaurant," Luffy laughed, as he and Coby walked out of the restaurant and headed down the street. "I've gotta go there again!"

* * *

The black-haired waiter stared at the empty table, it was piled full of empty plates and the two seats were still pushed out.

"He didn't pay…" the waiter observed as he shook his head, "some things never change."

The waiter walked to the back and spotted a small girl with dark brown hair and a blue and green striped dress wrapping some paper around two round objects. "What do you have there Rika?" he asked the girl.

"I'm gonna go bring these rice balls to Roronoa Zoro at the marine base," answered Rika, she was the daughter of the woman who owned the tavern. "You've done it so many times, but I want to do it too. I made the rice balls myself, I hope he likes them."

"Your mother won't like that," said the waiter.

"But he's gotta be starving!" the eight year old protested. "I need to help him, Big Brother."

"Fine, go," the waiter replied. "But before you go in, find a guy wearing a red vest and a straw hat and make sure he sees you go in."

"Huh? Why?" asked Rika.

"Because he won't let anything bad happen to you," the waiter told her as he headed back out into the main room. "I've got to get back to work. Be safe."

* * *

A little while later and Luffy and Coby were walking down the street in town. "That was strange," said Coby, "I have a bad feeling about this. I can understand why they'd be scared of Zoro's name. But why would they be afraid of the marine captain's name too?"

"Well he could have done something bad, right?" questioned Luffy.

"That's impossible!" Coby snapped.

"I'm serious," Luffy told him as they kept walking, they were finally heading towards the actual marine base.

* * *

"It looks pretty ugly up close," Luffy remarked once they reached the gate around the marine base. "Go ahead Coby, go on in."

"B-but I'm not prepared yet!" Coby protested, "I'm still wondering about the incident at the restaurant. LUFFY!"

Coby looked on in shock as Luffy started climbing one of the walls, "I wonder if I can see the demonic monster from here," wondered Luffy as he looked into the holding yard.

"You can't find him that easily!" Coby snapped, "He's probably deep within the bowels of the prison or something…"

"No!" Luffy replied as he jumped down from the wall and started running along it, "I saw something over there. It could be Zoro."

Luffy and Coby climbed another wall and Luffy noticed someone being held in the middle of the yard. "There he is!" Luffy pointed out. When Coby saw the person Luffy was referring to he fell off of the wall.

"Th-that b-black bandana and sash around his waist," Coby stuttered from the ground, "It's him! It's Roronoa Zoro! He looks scary!"

What Coby said was true. There in the middle of the yard was Roronoa Zoro. Zoro was tied to what looked like a cross and had a blank expression on his face. The swordsman didn't look older than twenty years old, his green hair was hidden under a black bandana, and his facial features resembled a shark. He was wearing a white short sleeve shirt, a green sash, and a pair of black pants and shoes.

"So he's Zoro, huh?" questioned Luffy, "I could just untie those ropes and set him free…"

"THAT'S SUICIDE!" Coby shouted, loud enough to get the pirate hunter's attention, "If you set him free he'll kill us then wreck the town!"

"Hey you!" came the deep voice of Roronoa Zoro. "Come over here and untie me. I've been tied up here for nine days and I'm exhausted!"

"Look he's smiling," Luffy observed.

"He… he talked!" Coby gasped.

"I'll make it worth your while," Zoro called out again, "I could hunt down a pirate with a big price on his head and give you the bounty. You can trust me, I'm a man of my word."

"Don't do it Luffy!" Coby pleaded, "If you set him free, he'll kill us and escape!"

"He can't kill me!" Luffy assured him, "I won't let him. I'm too strong!"

"You really are hopeless," Coby cried. Suddenly a ladder was set up against the wall and a familiar little girl climbed up it.

"Sssshhhhh!" Rika shushed Luffy and Coby. She lowered a rope and climbed down it into the holding yard.

"Don't go down there! It's dangerous!" Coby called after the girl. He turned to Luffy, "Luffy, stop her, she could be killed."

"What do you want?" Zoro asked the girl in front of him, "get lost!"

Rika pulled out a bundle and unwrapped the paper around it to reveal a pair of rice balls. "I made these rice balls for you. I know Big Brother usually sneaks you some but I wanted to help. This is the first time I've ever made rice balls…"

"I'm not hungry!" the pirate hunter snapped, "go away!"

"B-but…" Rika protested.

"I don't want it!" Zoro insisted, "Now get out of here or I'll kill you!"

"RORONOA ZORO!" came a loud voice as a man with funny looking blond hair and a cleft chin wearing a black suit walked into the holding yard, "You shouldn't pick on little girls, I'll report you to my father!"

"Who's that weirdo?" Luffy wondered.

"Probably some high ranking marine," said Coby. "Good, that little girl will be safe now."

"Well if it isn't the Captain's bastard son," said Zoro, who actually knew who his guy was but was unimpressed.

"Bastard?" Helmeppo repeated. "Don't get cocky, you're not in the position to say such things." Helmeppo turned to Rika and noticed the rice balls in her hands. "Little girl, did you bring those rice balls for me? How thoughtful!"

"Wait no!" Rika shrieked, she had made those for Zoro. But the captain's son must have gone temporarily deaf because he took one of the rice balls anyway and started eating it.

Helmeppo's face turned blue, and he spat the rice ball out before he could choke on it. "PTOOOOOIIII! Disgusting!" Helmeppo complained as he continued spitting in an attempt to get the awful taste out. "You used sugar! You're supposed to use salt to season these!"

"But I thought they'd taste better if they were sweet," said Rika, as a tear formed in one of her eyes. She had worked hard on those and wanted them to be special.

"These are completely inedible!" Helmeppo shouted as he snatched the other rice ball and threw it on the ground, then to the Rika's horror, started squishing them with his foot.

"Stop! Please!" the girl pleaded as the captain's son squished her hard work, "You're ruining them!"

"How evil," Coby whispered, "That girl worked really hard on those."

"AHahaha, don't worry," Helmeppo laughed, "I'm sure the ants will find them delicious!"

Rika dropped to the ground and cried next to her ruined rice balls. "You're so cruel! I worked so hard to make them!"

"Oh, stop crying," Helmeppo complained. "No wonder why I hate little brats so much. It's your own fault. Can't you read this sign?" Helmeppo then pointed out the sign next to him, and read it to the girl. "It says: '_Anyone who helps the prisoner will be charged with the same crime.' _And it is signed by my father, Captain Morgan."

Helmeppo looked closely at Rika, "You know how scary my father can be. You could've gotten the death penalty if you were a grown up."

Helmeppo then turned to one of the marines who were with him, "You there, throw this brat out!"

"What?" questioned the marine.

"I'm telling you to throw her out of here!" Helmeppo ordered. "Are you disobeying me? I'll tell my father!" No one likes a tattle-tale, but this tattle-tale's father was the ranking officer at this base, no one wanted to make him mad.

"Yes sir, right away," the marine reluctantly agreed, as he bent down to pick up the girl he whispered, "Sorry I have to hurt you. Try curling up into a ball." Regretfully the marine threw the eight year old over the fence and out of the holding yard.

Luffy jumped off the wall and was knocked to the ground as he caught Rika and kept her from getting hurt.

"Are you alright?" Coby asked Rika, as Luffy got up and dusted himself off,

"Those bastards!"

"I didn't think you'd have this kind of endurance," Helmeppo taunted Zoro.

"That's right, I'm going to survive the entire month," Zoro answered with a determined grin, "You'd better keep your promise."

"I wouldn't dream of breaking my word," Helmeppo assured as he and his marine escorts started leaving. "If you survive out here for a month, I'll release you. Good luck."

Helmeppo and the marines left, but Zoro still wasn't alone. A pirate was standing in front of him.

"So I hear you're a bad guy," said Luffy as he stood in front of Zoro in the holding yard.

"Are you still here?" asked Zoro.

"You're stuck out here for all the world to see and nothing," Luffy commented. "Are you really all that strong?"

"Mind your own business," said Zoro, but Luffy just walked closer.

"If I were you I'd probably starve to death in three days," Luffy told him.

"I've got more spirit than you could ever have," Zoro replied, "which is why I'm gonna survive this ordeal. This I swear."

"Haha, what a weirdo," Luffy chuckled, as he turned and headed off.

"Wait," Zoro called after him. "Could you… pick that up for me?" He motioned to the squished rice ball with his head.

"You're gonna eat this?" asked Luffy as he crouched down and picked up what was more a bunch of dirt that a ball of rice, "cause its mostly a ball of mud."

"Shut up and give it to me! Now!" Zoro ordered, he held his mouth opened and Luffy tossed the remains of the rice ball inside.

The Pirate Hunter proceeded to eat the rice ball as if it was the first thing he'd eaten in weeks, but then coughed when he choked on the bits of dirt.

"You should've listened to me," Luffy pointed out.

"Tell the girl, 'thanks for the food'," Zoro requested. Luffy smiled and left.

* * *

"Really?" asked Rika, once Luffy had relayed Zoro's message as they sat out in front of the tavern.

"That's right," Luffy answered. "He ate all of it."

"That's great," said the girl with a smile.

"Could he really be as bad as people say he is?" Coby asked.

"He's not!" Rika exclaimed. "He's good… because… he got himself punished for us."

"You're making no sense," Luffy stated.

"Sorry," Rika apologized. "It was that dumb Helmeppo's fault.

**[Rika's Flashback]**

_"Step aside! Step aside!" Helmeppo called out three weeks ago. "Make way for my beautiful pet doggy." The 'doggy' was actually a wolf and was terrifying and terrorizing the people. Helmeppo had a sword and two marines as an escort, no one wanted to get in his way. "Anyone who doesn't move I'll have executed! AHahaha!"_

_The wolf barged into a familiar tavern and made its way over to a table and proceeded to devour the food on a customer's table._

_"You can't bring pets in here," the black-haired bartender calmly told him as he placed a bottle of rum on the counter in front of a green-haired man wearing a black bandana._

_"Shut up you!" Helmeppo ordered. "Let my doggy do what he wants or I'll tell my father to have you executed."_

_"Stop it, you mean old thing!" Rika shrieked as she ran over to the wolf and swung at its tail with a mop,_

_"Rika, get away from that thing," the black-haired waiter warned her._

_"You, little girl," said Helmeppo. "Is there some kind of problem with how my precious dog is behaving?"_

_"Rika put it down!" Rika's mother exclamied as she rushed out from the back room. "You don't want to get us in trouble."_

_The wolf growled as it turned to the little girl, then let out a howl as it pounced._

_Rika had been tackled to the ground by the waiter who was clutching the small girl to his chest as the wolf clawed at his back._

_A barstool suddenly slammed into the wolf and knocked it out._

_Despite the bloody wounds on the back of his shirt, the one-eyed waiter stood up, and allowed Rika to run over to her mother. He stared at the green-haired man that had kicked the barstool at the wolf. "You shouldn't have done that," he commented idly, completely oblivious to the blood dripping on the floor from the scratch and bite marks on his back._

_"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" Helmeppo demanded as he swung his sword around in outrage. "Wait a minute… its you! You're 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro!"_

_"And if I am?" asked Zoro as Helmeppo continued brandishing his sword at him._

_"What's a pirate hunter doing defying the marines, huh?"_

_"Can it and let me finish my meal in peace."_

_"RAAAH!" Helmeppo screamed as he charged at Zoro and swung his sword, Zoro lashed out his leg and kicked the captain's son's sword out of his hands, it went flying and embedded in the ceiling._

_"AAAHH!" Helmeppo's scream of rage turned to a scream of terror as Zoro turned to him, Zoro punched Helmeppo right in the face and sent him flying into a wall._

_Zoro drew one of his swords and pointed it at Helmeppo's face. "You're getting on my nerves, pal," said Zoro as Helmeppo whimpered in fear and pain, "You and that precious mutt of yours."_

_"AHahaha," Helmeppo chuckled, "You do realize if my dad finds out about this he'll surely execute the girl, and her mother." The waiter cast a glance at Rika and her mother, then turned back and watched confrontation between Zoro and Helmeppo to see how it would play out._

_"So what do you say to a little deal between men?" Helmeppo offered as he slowly got back up. "In place of those three, we string you up instead. For… say one month. You survive that one month and I'll be so nice as to let you live too. What do you say? Sound fair?"_

_"No," the waiter interrupted. "I'll do the month, if you promise that the girl and her mother are spared. You can even execute me."_

_"Why would I want you?" asked Helmeppo. "I could kill you any time I want, and then have the other two executed once you're dead."_

_The waiter looked like he was about to say something, but Zoro turned and stared at him. "He made the offer to me, I'll do it," Zoro turned back to the captain's son. "One month it is." Zoro dropped his sword and allowed himself to get arrested._

**[End Flashback]**

"It's been three weeks since that day," Rika concluded. "Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him while he's tied up. He's being so unfair! Big Brother's been sneaking him food late at night, but I don't know how to help him!"

Just then, speak of the devil, Helmeppo walked passed them into the tavern. "I'M HERE AND I'M HUNGRY! YOU, ONE-EYE, GET OVER HERE!" Luffy, Coby, and Rika ran through the door to see what was going to happen.

"What do you want?" asked the waiter as he walked over.

Helmeppo lashed out his hand and punched the waiter square in the face. The waiter didn't even flinch and just stood there as Helmeppo yelled at him, "You can't talk to me like that! I'll tell my father on you! Do you want to get executed like Zoro?"

"He's got ten days left," the waiter replied. "He'll be fine."

Helmeppo punched him again, but again the waiter barely flinched. "The only reason _you _haven't been executed is because you're fun to hit. Do you really expect me to live up to my end of the deal? I'm keeping him alive until I get bored hitting you, then I'll execute him."

"Heads up," said the waiter as he calmly stepped backwards.

"What's tha—" Helmeppo started to say as he turned around.

Luffy ran across the room, his hat fell off his head as he went, he reached Helmeppo and lashed out his arm and socked the Captain's son right in the face. Helmeppo went flying and slammed into a wall.

"You… you just hit me!" Helmeppo whined as he sat up and held his face where Luffy had hit him.

"Luffy, no!" Coby pleaded as he tried to hold Luffy back, "You can't hit him."

"This guy's scum!" Luffy growled.

"You actually hit me!" Helmeppo shrieked. "I'm Captain Morgan's son you know!"

"Yeah, like I care!" Luffy snapped.

"You'll care after he executes you for this!" Helmeppo yelled.

"Why don't you just be a man and fight?" Luffy challenged.

"He only hits people who he knows won't fight back," the waiter answered.

"Luffy, why don't you just ease off some?" asked Coby. "Why are you trying to get on the marines' bad side?"

"Coby, I've made up my mind," Luffy announced, "I'm going to ask Zoro to join my crew!"


	3. Chapter 2

"Wow, he really did it!" someone shouted. "He actually hit Captain Morgan's son!"

"Luffy calm down, they're marines!" Coby yelled as he tried to hold Luffy back.

"I don't care!" Luffy snapped. "A bastard is still a bastard, no matter who his father is!"

"Y-you hit me" Helmeppo whined from the ground, "no one has ever hit me! Not even my father! I'M MARINE CAPTAIN MORGAN'S BELOVED SON! I'M TELLING MY FATHER ON YOU!" The two marines he was with helped him up and he ran out crying like the little bitch he was. "You'll get a death sentence for sure! And my father will be the one who executes it! YOU BASTARD!"

The other customers in the restaurant all gasped in shock, Luffy seemed to still be angry. The black-haired waiter walked over to Luffy's hat and picked it up.

"It's meaningless to hit people like him," Luffy muttered to himself, he was disgusted with Helmeppo, he was a coward and a liar. Just one was bad enough.

"You were so cool!" Rika said to Luffy.

"Well then maybe I should have hit him a couple more times for you," Luffy joked.

"Rika!" Rika's mother Ririka scolded her, **"**you shouldn't be talking to that person, if the marines think you're his friend, they'll kill you too!"

With the mother and daughter gone the waiter walked over to Luffy and held out his straw hat. "Shanks wouldn't want this to get ruined," he said in a soft, completely calm voice.

Luffy didn't seem to hear what he had said and just answered, "Yeah, thanks," while putting the hat back on his head.

"Three… two… one…" the waiter counted down.

"ED! IT'S YOU!" Luffy suddenly shouted.

"About time you realized it," the waiter commented.

"What happened to you?" Luffy asked as he stared at the scar over Ed's left eye.

"I had a run-in with a tough pirate while I was treasure hunting last year," Ed answered. "He wanted a treasure I managed to get, I said 'no' and he scratched me in the eye and left me for dead. I've been taking a break and working here for the last month."

"Have you thought of giving being a pirate another shot?" Luffy asked.

"Maybe," said Ed evasively.

"Then you're gonna join my pirate crew," Luffy told him. "We'll be Nakama!"

"You're supposed to let me decide, you idiot," Ed muttered.

"I did it for you," said Luffy. "It'll be great! You can help me find One Piece and I'll become King of the Pirates!"

"One Piece?" Ed repeated with a small smile.

"Yeah!" Luffy answered. "And since there's no one else on the crew yet. You can be First Mate."

"Hmm… it would be an opportunity to start over," Ed commented mostly to himself. "Tell you what… we'll settle this the way we used to."

"Okay," Luffy agreed. "If I win, you'll join my crew, and if you win, you can still join if you want to."

"Ready?" asked Ed as he held his arm out. Luffy nodded as he mimicked his brother.

"SHOOT!" Luffy held out a fist while Ed was holding out his hand with two fingers extended.

Coby face-faulted as Luffy's rock crushed Ed's scissors. "Yeah! Now you'll join my crew!"

"A deal's a deal," Ed agreed with a sly grin. "I guess we're Nakama now."

"YOU DECIDED BY PLAYING ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS?" Coby shouted as he got back up and glared at the two pirates.

"Uh… yeah," Luffy and Ed replied at the same time.

"How else would we decide?" questioned Luffy. "And now that Ed and I are Nakama, we can go get Zoro."

"Sounds good to me, Captain," Ed agreed. "Let me go and get something first."

"What do you need to get?" asked Luffy.

"I have some of my old stuff upstairs," Ed explained with a shrug.

"Wait a minute," Coby interrupted. "So you're both pirates, and you're both planning on sneaking into the _marine_ base holding ground to ask Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate _Hunter_ to join a pirate crew? That's suicide!"

"Not very brave is he?" questioned Ed, "Is he part of your crew?"

"Nope, Coby wants to be a marine," Luffy told him.

"Oh," said Ed with an indifferent shrug.

"Come on, let's get your stuff then get up to the base!" said Luffy.

Ed nodded and led the other two upstairs to a small room with a bed in it. Ed changed into a black Hoodie, which was tucked into a pair of black Shinobi pants with two pockets at the waist and a much larger pocket on each of the legs. The bottom of the pants were tucked into a pair of black shinobi style boots. The boots had steel toes and a steel bottom. Hooked on a red belt were three scrolls. on his right hip was a curved ninjato

"Let's go get Zoro," said Ed as walked out the door, followed closely by Luffy, who had a huge smile on his face… this was going to be fun.

* * *

A little while away, in the marine base a man was sitting in a chair facing the window. This man was Captain Morgan, the highest-ranking marine on the base. He was a large incredibly muscular man with short blond hair. He wore a long light blue marine captain's coat with a high collar, underneath it, he wore a sleeveless black shirt, a pair of blue pants, and a pair of black boots.

"I am great," Morgan said out loud as he smoked his cigar.

"Yes sir," a marine agreed, as he raised his hand and saluted, "You're right Captain Morgan, sir!"

"But lately," Captain Morgan continued, still not facing the marine. "The taxes we collect don't compare to my sheer degree of greatness."

"Yes that's right sir," said the marine who was still saluting. "I guess that the citizen's wallets aren't very deep these days."

"The issue of hand is the matter of respect for me," Morgan replied. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The doors of the room smashed opened and Helmeppo came rushing in, "FATHER!" Helmeppo cried.

"What is it?" asked Morgan, not bothering to face his son.

"I want you to kill someone for me!" Helmeppo whined as he held his face where Luffy had hit him. "And I want it done now!"

* * *

_A black-haired girl and a younger Zoro were dueling with training swords.__ The girl broke through Zoro's two-sword defense and connected with his face, knocking him on his back._

"_You're weak Zoro," the girl taunted him. "Nothing ever changes."_

"I made a promise to her," Zoro said to himself, "I can't allow myself to die in a place like this."

"Uh… should we wake him up?" came a somewhat familiar voice. "He's just staring off into space. Is he sleeping?"

"He seems to be remembering something from a long time ago," another familiar voice replied. "He'll come out of it on his own."

"What?" Luffy and Zoro asked at the same time.

It was then that Zoro noticed the two people in the holding yard, "What are you doing here?" Zoro wondered as he stared at the waiter. "Your sister was already by earlier. They're bound to catch you if you keep coming back here."

"Actually, I'm here with him," said Ed as he pointed to Luffy.

"Then what are _you_ doing back here? Don't you have things to do?"

"I'll untie you, but only if you promise to join my crew," Luffy told him.

"Your what?" asked Zoro.

"I run a pirate crew," Luffy explained. "And I'm looking for people to join up." He motioned to Ed, "This guy's my new First Mate."

"No way," Zoro refused. "I'd never stoop to joining criminals. Screw that business."

"What's wrong with being a pirate?" asked Luffy.

"They're despicable," Zoro stated, "like I'd ever want to join up with one." He turned to Ed, "Aren't you a waiter, why'd you join him?"

"I was a treasure hunter before I was a waiter," Ed explained. "And this guy's my younger brother, I just couldn't say no."

"Come on," Luffy encouraged him, "everyone already knows you as a vicious bounty hunter who's always out for blood."

"I don't care what people think!" Zoro exclaimed, "I haven't done one thing that I regretted in the past and it will be the same for the future! I WON'T BECOME A PIRATE!"

"Hm," Ed grunted.

"Sorry," said Luffy. "But I've already decided, you're gonna join my crew!"

"I don't give a damn what you decided!" Zoro snapped.

"You're not very good at this recruiting thing," Ed pointed out, "You might need a different approach with this one."

"Then what do I do?" asked Luffy.

Ed stared at Zoro for a moment then a sly grin appeared on his face. "Roronoa Zoro is known throughout the East Blue as a feared swordsman," Ed recalled. "It's always a pity to see a swordsman without his swords."

"You bastard," Zoro growled who had caught on before Luffy had.

"Hey! That's a great idea!" Luffy realized when he figured out what Ed had said, he quickly turned back to Zoro, "You use a sword right?"

"If I wasn't tied up here I'd show you!" Zoro threatened him, but his threat had no effect on Luffy who was as optimistic as ever.

"Where is your sword?" asked Luffy.

"That bastard Helmeppo took 'em," Zoro answered, "Next to my life, those swords are my greatest treasure."

Ed was still sporting his sly grin, "Now we're getting somewhere."

"Treasure, huh?" questioned Luffy, "Too bad they took 'em. Oh, I know! I'll go and get your sword back! But if you want me to return it to you, you'll have to join my crew!"

"You little rat!" Zoro growled as Luffy ran off.

Luffy laughed and called over his shoulder, "See you soon!"

"Luffy… the tower's that way," Ed pointed as he motioned towards the tower that was in the opposite direction.

"Right," Luffy agreed as he turned around and ran the other way.

"If he really planning on sneaking into the base?" Zoro asked Ed.

"No," Ed answered. "He's going to barge in making as much noise as possible. _I'll_ sneak into the base."

"That's one dumb pirate," Zoro commented.

Ed shrugged, "He makes for a good distraction." With that Ed turned and ran off after Luffy, leaving Zoro staring after him. They didn't _actually_ expect him to join did they?

* * *

Meanwhile, on top of the marine base, a large project was going on. "Alright, steady," someone ordered. "Now stand it up!"

"Father!" Helmeppo cried to Captain Morgan. "That kid hit me! Why won't you help me take revenge? Even you haven't hit me before!"

"Do you know why I've never hit you?"

"Because I'm your beloved son?" Helmeppo answered uncertainly.

Morgan suddenly punched Helmeppo in the face, sending him crashing to the ground, luckily he didn't use his other hand. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE A BASTARD SON THAT'S NOT EVEN WORTH HITTING!" Morgan yelled.

"Why do I have to clean up your mess?" asked Captain Morgan as he patted his axe, which was actually imbedded in his arm and replaced his hand, earning him the name, 'Axe-Hand Morgan.' The Captain continued smoking his cigar with his metal jaw while looking down at his pitiful son, "I don't mind if you use my status. But only if you use it to punish those who defy me! Don't fool yourself, you are not the great one here! _I_ am the great one, ME!" Morgan paused and changed the subject, "Rumor has it that someone snuck into the execution site."

"You mean that little girl?" asked Helmeppo, "I already dealt with her…"

"So you killed her, right?" questioned Morgan.

"Huh? No… she's just a little girl!" Helmeppo replied, "She didn't even know what she was doing!"

"You!" Captain Morgan barked as he turned to a marine wearing a green necktie around his neck as opposed to the blue the others were wearing. It signified his rank as Lieutenant. "Go into town and kill her! I don't care how old she is, whoever opposes me shall die!"

"But Captain, she's just a little girl!" the marine protested, "I couldn't do that!"

"Couldn't do it huh?" questioned Morgan. "You're a Marine Lieutenant, right? And the rank of Lieutenant is lower than the rank of Captain, isn't it?"

"Yes sir," the Lieutenant admitted.

"THEN YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO GO AGAINST MY ORDERS!" Morgan hollered, "IF I ORDER YOU TO KILL HER, THEN YOU WILL KILL HER!"

"I can't!" Lieutenant refused.

"TRAITOR!" Morgan shouted, In a flash Morgan raised his axe arm, then brought it down on the marine's back, and the marine fell to the floor, blood splattered all over his back.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HIM!" Helmeppo shrieked.

"L-lieutenant!" a marine stuttered as he stared down at the fallen marine.

"No matter," said Captain Morgan calmly. "For the sake of teaching the people respect, I'll go into town myself. With this arm, I rose to the rank of Captain. Rank is the most important thing in the world! I am the highest-ranking officer in the base, which means I am the greatest one here! GREAT MEN DON'T MAKE MISTAKES! Don't you agree?"

"Yes sir," the marines chorused. "You are absolutely correct Captain!"

"Look," said Morgan as he pointed to the giant statue lying on the ground. The statue was gigantic, and was an exact replica of Captain Morgan. "This is a symbol of my power! It took years to build it but today it's finally complete! Raise my statue, and put it up on the highest point of the base as a symbol of my greatness!"

* * *

Back on the ground Ed had caught up with Luffy and the two of them were standing in front of the marine base. "That's strange, there isn't anyone around," commented Luffy, "Are they having a meeting or something? Never mind the sword, I can't even find that bastard son like this!"

"Let's just split up and search the place," Ed suggested, "we'll cover more ground."

* * *

On top of the tower that Luffy and Ed were looking up at the marines were back at work. They had fastened ropes onto the Captain's giant statue and were attempting to pull it up. They were all pulling as hard as they could, and were slowly pulling the extremely heavy stone statue off of the ground. One of the statue's arms scratched against a piece of roof, and unfortunately for the marines, Captain. Morgan noticed.

"Hey you!" Captain Morgan barked at a marine, "Just now, did you bump my statue?"

"S-sorry Captain," the worried marine stuttered. "We were being careless sir…"

* * *

Back on the ground, Ed was staring up at the top of the base, "Luffy, I think I heard something from up there," Ed reported.

"I'll go up and see," Luffy decided.

"Don't get anyone too angry," Ed advised as he quickly walked towards the door.

Luffy's arm stretched up into the air and rocketed up to the top of the base. "GUM… GUM… ROCKET!" Luffy's arm retracted and pulled him upwards with the speed of a rocket.

* * *

"Do you know how long I've been looking forward to the completion of this statue?" Captain Morgan demanded of an extremely frightened marine, "And you went ahead and damaged it!"

"I'm sorry sir!" the marine apologized, "I'll fix it right away!"

"This statue represents me," said Morgan, "Damaging it means that you don't respect me!" Morgan brandished his axe arm and prepared to teach the marine a lesson, while failing to notice the rubber boy flying upward at an alarming speed. "Do you understand!"

"Oh no!" Luffy exclaimed, "I'm going too fast!"

Luffy went flying upwards and grabbed the ropes that were being used to pull up the statue, and managed to stop himself. But the ropes snapped and Luffy fell to the ground. Without the ropes to keep it up the statue to fell down and break in half on the edge of the roof. The marines, Luffy, Helmeppo, and Captain Morgan all watched in shock as the top of the statue fell off of the roof and went smashing down to the ground and broke into hundreds of piece.

* * *

Ed turned around when he heard the loud noise and saw the smashed remains of a statue. "Oops," Ed commented, he closed his eyes and shook his head, "now they're mad." He quickly turned and ran into the base before anyone could see him standing there.

* * *

Back on the roof, Luffy looked around sheepishly, "Um… sorry," he apologized.

Captain Morgan was in outrage, "CAPTURE HIM!" Morgan roared, "SEIZE HIM AND HOLD HIM SO I CAN KILL HIM MYSELF!"

"Yes sir!" the marines agreed.

"Father it's him!" Helmeppo shrieked. "He's the one who hit me!"

"Hey, I've been looking for you," said Luffy when he noticed Helmeppo. Luffy quickly grabbed the Captain's son and ran through a door downstairs.

"Th-they headed into the main building," a marine announced,

"DO NOT LET THAT MAN ESCAPE!" Morgan ordered.

"Captain," another marine reported while looking over the edge of the roof, "Someone's in the holding ground!"

"I'm surrounded... by traitors..." Morgan muttered.

Meanwhile Ed was having a relatively easy time getting into the base. He had ducked around a corner, then grabbed a marine when he ran passed, beat him up, then stole his uniform. _"Everyone's running after Luffy,"_ Ed said to himself, _"This'll be easier than I thought."_

Ed opened a closet door and put the unconscious marine inside and adjusted the blue neck tie. He reached into his top left pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and quickly put them on, the lenses were large enough that the left one completely hid his scar from view. Ed now looked like an ordinary black haired marine wearing sunglasses. Ed checked around the corner to see if the coast was clear, and then headed off down the hallway, but he stopped when he noticed that the door to Captain Morgan's Office was open.

Ed approached the door and peered inside, but what he saw was two marines tied up and someone who definitely wasn't Captain Morgan. Unless 'Morgan' was a girl's name… and the Marine Captain suddenly shrank and had grown orange hair and womanly curves in the right spots. Yeah… definitely not him.

* * *

Out in the holding yard, Coby had come up to Zoro and was trying to untie him. "You have to get out of here Zoro," said Coby.

"That maniac's gonna kill you for what you're doing right now," Zoro told him.

"I can't stand to watch the marines behave like this anymore. The true marines should be honorable."

"Look kid, I can't leave. I've got ten days left. And then they're…"

"Not quite," Coby interrupted. "They're gonna execute you tomorrow."

"What!"

"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement. He planned on killing you from the start, which made Luffy really angry and that's why he hit him."

But suddenly a shot rang out and a bullet came flying out of nowhere and hit Coby in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

* * *

Meanwhile, Luffy was dragging Helmeppo on the ground while still being chased by the marines.

"There he is!" a marine called out as he and a bunch of other marines ran after Luffy, "stop them!"

"Where is Zoro's sword?" Luffy asked Helmeppo.

"I'll tell you!" Helmeppo conceded, "just stop dragging me!"

* * *

"Hurry up and tell me where Zoro's swords are!" Luffy ordered.

"Okay, just stop dragging me!" Helmeppo conceded as his head banged against the ground.

Luffy pulled the Captain's son up slightly, so now he wouldn't bump on the floor, "Spill it!"

"They're inside my room," Helmeppo explained, "W-we already passed it!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" asked Luffy as he pulled Helmeppo up. Luffy punched the Captain's son in the face again for good measure. "Now we have to go all the way back."

"OUCH!" Helmeppo yelped. "You hit me _again_!"

"Don't move!" three marines yelled as they aimed their rifles at Luffy, "except for putting Helmeppo down."

"No way," Luffy refused as he quickly held Helmeppo up in front of him. "Buuuut you can try shooting me if you want."

"NOOO!" Hemeppo screamed as Luffy ran passed the marines using him as a meat shield. "PLEASE DON'T SHOOT! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!"

* * *

But Helmeppo wasn't the only one screaming. Out in the holding yard Coby was holding his hand to his bleeding bullet wound. "I've been shot!" Coby cried, "BLOOD! I'm bleeding! I'M GONNA DIE!"

"Good you're alive," Zoro observed, seeing how he was still tied up, he couldn't do much to help the kid. "Now get out of here, they're on their way down!"

"No!" said Coby as he struggled to get up and staggered over to Zoro. "I haven't untied you! I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate, but I hope you'll help him. You have a lot of strength you can offer. Luffy's the only one who can save you from execution. And of course, you're the only one who can save him from a very similar fate."

"END OF THE LINE!" came the voice of Captain Morgan. Coby and Zoro turned to see Morgan and a squad of marines standing to the side pointing guns at them. "For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you both do die where you stand!"

Zoro and Coby looked at the marines in shock. What this the end?

* * *

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Ed asked as he slipped into Captain Morgan's office, startling the orange-haired girl that was standing in front of the safe that was in the wall.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded, as she spun around to face what appeared to be a marine wearing sunglasses and shinobi pants. "Another marine?"

"Relax, I'm in disguise, I'm just a treasure hunter," Ed informed her.

"Isn't that the same as a pirate?" the girl asked with a frown.

"No," Ed replied. "A pirate will do whatever it takes to get what they want, which could be just about anything. A treasure hunter sails the seas in search of valuable or legendary treasures that haven't been found yet."

"Oh," said the girl. That was followed by an awkward pause.

"So… you're not a marine either," Ed commented. "Otherwise you wouldn't have tied up two marines while attempting to break into the safe there."

The girl immediately tried to deny the obvious, "I'm not… I'm just here to… uh… damn."

"Busted," Ed said blankly, a flicker of amusement appeared on his face but it quickly faded. "Do you have a name? Or should I just call you 'thief'?"

"Of course I have a name, you idiot!" the girl snapped. "I'm Nami, and I rob pirates." Nami had short orange hair that went down slightly passed her chin. She was about a half a foot shorter than Ed and appeared to be around eighteen, she wore a blue and white shirt and a short yellow skirt with two white circles on the sides. On her feet were a pair of fashionable high-heeled sandals with straps that wrapped around her leg up above her ankles.

Ed slipped off his sunglasses and returned them to his top left pocket, revealing his eye's to the newly dubbed 'Nami', "I'm Ed, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire," said Ed, he flashed a quick foxy smile before it faded back to his usual relaxed expression.

"Wait a minute… aren't you the waiter from the tavern in town?" questioned Nami, recognizing the scar. A guy with scared eye kind of stood out in a small town like this one. "If this is about me running out on the bill… I was just going to get some money but… uh… then I got distracted and forgot…"

"I see, and you just conveniently ended up in the marine base on the outskirts of the town," Ed replied, he clearly didn't believe her. "Don't worry, I'm off duty at the moment and I took care of your bill. But this leads me to wonder what you're doing here. If you rob pirates, why are you stealing from marines?"

"That's none of your business!" said Nami. "What exactly are you doing in here?"

"I'm looking for something," Ed answered. "But _maybe_ we could help each other out."

Nami stared at Ed for a moment then asked, "What did you have in mind?"

A sly grin appeared on Ed's face, "I'll help you get that safe opened, and in exchange you'll help me find what I'm looking for."

"Yeah right," said Nami as she gestured to the safe behind her, "I've cracked a bunch of safes before, but I can't get in that one. It's thick and most likely has a three digit combination. I've been at it for the last ten minutes, there's no way you could get it opened."

"Is that a challenge?" questioned Ed with the same sly grin.

"No, it's a statement of fact," Nami told him. "If _I_ can't open that safe then_ you_ definitely can't."

"Wanna bet on it?" asked Ed.

"What are the terms of this _bet_ of yours?" Nami inquired, her interest had been peaked.

"Its simple," said Ed. "If I can get it opened, you have to help me find Roronoa Zoro's swords. And if—"

"Wait what?" Nami interrupted. "Why are you looking for Roronoa Zoro's swords?"

Ed stared at Nami for a moment, "You know that Roronoa Zoro is a notorious Pirate Hunter, right?" asked Ed.

"Everybody in the East Blue knows that," Nami replied.

"So what do you think a pirate would give you in exchange for the swords of a notorious pirate _hunter_? I figure I could make a small fortune."

"Clever," Nami commented.

"Not all treasures are gold or jewels," Ed informed her, "It can also be a specific item that holds prestigious value to someone. I'm a professional treasure hunter, I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, I'll agree to that," Nami decided. "And if you can't get the safe opened, I get _whatever _that sword you have and I get to use your head as a battering ram in another attempt to get in the safe." Nami grinned as she eyed the curved ninjato sheathed at the Treasure Hunter's waist. She could probably sell it to make a few million berries.

"My sword?" Ed repeated as he glanced down at the curved ninjato sheathed at his waist. "Not a chance."

"What's the matter? Not as confident as you think you are?" Nami goaded him.

"I've had this sword for ten years," Ed calmly explained, "It's been with me through all my adventures, both the good and the bad. It's been my life-long partner and I could never even dream of putting a price on it. I wouldn't sell it for a billion berries. And I certainly wouldn't insult it by wagering it in a simple bet."

"Okay fine," Nami relented. "What do you have to bet if you won't wager your sword?"

Ed reached down into his bottom left pocket and pulled out a sack, he shook it to show Nami that it contained a bunch of coins. "I think this kind of treasure is more up your alley," said Ed. "I've got two hundred thousand berries in here. How's that sound?"

Nami's eyes swirled around and looked like berri signs, "Alright, it's a bet then," Nami agreed as she stared at the sack greedily. Ed held out his free hand and Nami shook it. The bet was now official.

"Stand aside, let an expert do this," Ed instructed.

Nami moved to the side and watched as Ed walked up to the safe and pressed his ear to it, "That won't work," Nami informed him. "It's too thick."

"Turn around," said Ed suddenly.

"Why?"

"I'm going to use my secret safe-cracking technique. You seem like a nice girl but you did run out on your bill, I'm not about to show you my secret techniques."

Nami shrugged and slowly turned around, and looked randomly around the room. She spared a glance at the two marines that she had taken by surprise and tied up. "_What's with that guy?_"

A few seconds later, Ed adjusted his curved ninjato and pulled a roll of paper out of the safe and unrolled it. _"So it was supposed to be a sea chart, but it was stolen by Buggy the Clown. But she obviously doesn't know that." _Ed quickly grabbed a bag that seemed to be filled with coins out of the safe and slipped it into his bottom left pocket along with the sack he had wagered in the bed. He rolled the note back up and glanced over his shoulder at Nami "Got it."

Nami spun around in surprise as Ed held up the rolled up 'chart'. "I win," said Ed.

"Sure, now gimme!" Nami ordered as she held her hand out.

"Excuse me?" questioned Ed as he slipped the 'chart' into his bottom right pocket and then folded his arms across his chest. "Our bet didn't cover me _giving_ you what I got out of the safe. I cracked the safe so you have to help me find Zoro's swords as agreed. _If_ you do, then _maybe_ I'll give you whatever this is."

"Fine," the orange-haired girl conceded, she glared at Ed and thought for a moment. "From what I heard, Captain Morgan didn't capture Zoro, his son did. So maybe we should look for him."

"Good idea," Ed remarked, but then he noticed the tied up marines out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly had another idea. "But… I have a better one."

Ed turned to the two bound marines and slowly walked behind them. He pulled the tape off of one of the marine's mouth, and untied him. Then crouched down in front of him and looked him dead in the eye while asking, "Where's Helmeppo's room?" Ed asked calmly.

"I AIN'T SAYING NOTHIN'!" the marine shouted.

"Let's see if we can change your position on that," Ed commented, still perfectly calm. He suddenly grabbed the marine's ankle and flipped him onto his back, then lifted him up and dangled him upside down over the floor. "Let me explain something to you. You're still tied up, and I have a sword sheathed at my waist. I could kill you both in an instant. If you tell me what I want to know, you'll live."

"OKAY! OKAY! I'LL TALK!" the marine conceded, this guy was talking about killing him as if he was predicting the weather, at least when Captain Morgan did it, he screamed and yelled. "PUT ME DOWN!"

Ed dropped the marine and let him fall to the floor. "The room's up one floor, and down the hall," the marine answered. "The door is decorated with a wreath of pink flowers."

"Pink flowers?" Ed replied with a raised eyebrow as he put the tape back over the marine's mouth. He leaned in and whispered in the terrified marine's ear, "If what you told me is just a plan to get me captured, I _will_ escape and I _will_ kill you." The marine didn't know if Ed was bluffing or not, but he was happy he had told the truth.

Ed slowly walked back over to Nami. "Lead the way," Ed instructed as he pointed to the door.

"You'd better live up to your part of the deal the second we find those swords," Nami warned him as she went to the door and glanced outside. Ed simply watched her

"Alright the coast is clear," Nami reported as she quickly left the room. Ed nodded and followed after her.

* * *

Meanwhile in another part of the Marine Base Luffy had already found Helmeppo's room. "Alright I found the sword!" exclaimed Luffy, but he was soon presented with a problem, there were three swords and he didn't know which one was Zoro's. "There are three swords here, which one is Zoro's?" Luffy asked Helmeppo.

Luffy looked down and suddenly noticed that Helmeppo had passed out, but then he heard a noise coming from outside. Luffy looked outside and saw a line of marines pointing their guns at Zoro and Coby. "COBY!"

* * *

Out in the holding yard Captain Morgan was still addressing Zoro and Coby. "You've pulled some interesting moves around here. What is this, some kind of rebellion planned with Straw Hat!" Captain Morgan said to Zoro and Coby, referring to them and Luffy. He hadn't seen Ed _or_ _Nami_ yet.

"I've always fought alone like a real man does," said Zoro. "Not like a coward, who hides behind his wall of expendable cronies."

"Roronoa Zoro, don't you dare underestimate me. You may be a strong fighter, but under my authority you're just a rat to be thrown out with the trash!" With his taunting complete Morgan turned to the marines, "TAKE AIM!"

"_No!"_ Zoro thought to himself as he stared at the marines and their guns. _"I can't afford to die here." _Zoro's thoughts shifted to a black-haired girl.

"_You're weak Zoro," said the girl in his mind, "nothing ever changes."_

"FIRE!" Captain Morgan ordered.

* * *

Luffy grabbed the three swords and placed his arms on the windowsill, then stepped backwards, Luffy's arms stretched while still holding onto the window. "GUM… GUM… ROCKET!" Luffy shouted as he launched himself went crashing through the window and out flew through the air out of the building and up into the sky.

* * *

The marines fired their guns, but Luffy suddenly landed in front of Zoro and Coby and took the bullets himself.

"LUFFY NO!" Coby screamed.

"STRAW HAT!" Captain Morgan yelled.

Everyone looked in shock as the bullets embedded into Luffy and stretched backwards. "IT'S NO USE!" exclaimed Luffy, The bullets were launched forwards and shot all over the place, one whizzed right passed Captain Morgan's head.

"Hahaha!" Luffy stood there laughing, completely unharmed. "That won't work on me! Told ya I was strong!"

"What _are_ you?" Zoro demanded.

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy introduced himself. "And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy turned to Zoro and held out the three swords that he had with him, "Which one is yours? I couldn't figure it out, so I brought all three of them."

"They're _all_ mine," Zoro told him, "I practice _Santoryu_, the three-sword style!"

"Fighting the marines is going make you an outlaw," said Luffy. "But you could always obey the law and let them kill you."

"You must be devil spawn," Zoro commented, "because if I had to chose between dying and becoming a pirate. I'LL BECOME A PIRATE!"

* * *

"Damn, someone's already been here," Ed observed, as he and Nami entered an extremely feminine looking bedroom. The swords were nowhere to be seen, but Ed noticed a smashed window telling him that Luffy had been here and had gotten the swords first.

"Nice observation," Nami remarked, "Now come on, you still have to live up to your part of the deal!"

Ed shook his head, "Our deal was, if I get the safe opened, you'd help me find Zoro's swords. Then we decided when we found Zoro's swords, I'd give you what I got out of the safe in exchange for your help. I don't see Zoro's swords here, do you?"

"You could just give it to me," Nami suggested with a small smile and a wink.

"Give it to you?" Ed repeated. "I don't know you, I'm not about to give you something for nothing."

"Maybe I could convince you otherwise," Nami offered as she slowly approached Ed deliberately swaying her hips as she walked. _"He's cute enough to use my extra-special pirate thwarting technique. And it's not like I'll ever see him again."_ **(You sure about that?) **

Ed raised his eyebrow as Nami pressed up against him then tilted her head up and batted her eyelashes at him. "What's the matter? You like girls don't you? Or do you prefer playing with swords?"

"Are you questioning my sexuality?"

"No," Nami replied. "I just wanted to be sure you wouldn't be opposed to me doing this…" Nami pushed herself up onto her toes then reached up and grabbed the sides of a much taller Ed's face then pulled him down to her and kissed him.

While Nami distracted Ed with the kiss and ran one of her hands through his hair, she sent her other hand down to Ed's bottom right pocket and fished out the roll of paper. Nami quickly slipped her 'chart' into the waistband of her skirt, and broke the kiss, having gotten what she wanted.

"I guess that'll do," Ed commented, as he slowly walked backwards to the smashed window. "See ya," he called out then he lunged out of the window and dropped out of sight, leaving Nami alone in Helmeppo's feminine looking bedroom.

"Works every time," Nami said to herself as she fished the roll of paper out of the waistband of her skirt and unrolled her prize. She glanced down at it then shouted, "DAMN IT!"

The paper was a note that read _'I have flashily taken the chart.'_ It was signed by Buggy the Clown. Nami had kissed him all for nothing but hopefully she'd never see him again. Now she needed to find Buggy the Clown and get the chart from him. With that, she quickly left the room, looking to escape the marine base.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello everybody! I'm back with a new chapter**

* * *

"YEAH!" Luffy cheered, "Now we're Nakama!" Roronoa Zoro had just agreed to join Luffy's pirate crew. Now there were three of them. Luffy stood beside Zoro, who was still tied up and did a celebratory jig.

"Okay now hurry up and cut these ropes," said Zoro, who didn't want Luffy to get distracted.

"What is he?" asked one of the marines, "Bullets bounce right off of him!"

"He's no ordinary human," said Captain Morgan. "He must have eaten one of the 'Devil Fruit'!"

"He ate one of the ocean's secret treasures?" questioned a marine. "His special ability is because of this fruit!"

"Captain, he's untying Zoro's ropes!" another marine pointed out.

"Well, stop him you fools! If bullets don't work, use your swords to kill him!" The marines followed the order and drew their swords and then charged.

"Damn, this knot is tough," Luffy complained, he was having a hard time getting the knot holding Zoro's arm.

"C'mon hurry up!" Zoro yelled, who could see the charging marines. Meanwhile Coby had just woken up.

"I think I just made it tighter now," said Luffy as he continued struggling with the knot.

"We don't have time for this!" Zoro snapped.

"Luffy, Zoro, watch out!" Coby yelled as something suddenly ran by him.

"Luffy, move," Ed instructed as he ran over. He was no longer wearing the marine uniform and quickly drew his curved ninjato and cut the ropes on one of Zoro's arms.

"Quick, give me my swords!" Zoro ordered. Luffy handed Zoro his three swords as the marines started closing in. No one noticed Ricky cutting himself with his sword and the blood mysteriously being absorbed by the red blade before he slid it back into the sheath.

"ANOTHER ONE!" Captain Morgan yelled when he noticed Ricky. "THOSE WHO OPPOSE ME MUST DIE! KILL THEM ALL!"

Ed had cut Zoro free and now the Pirate Hunter was using his three swords to hold back eight marines.

"WHAT THE…" Morgan roared.

"Wow, cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Indeed," said Ed with thinly veiled interest.

"The next one who moves dies!" said Zoro as he continued holding back the intimidated marines.

"Alright, I'm a pirate," Zoro resolved. "I gave you my word, and I never go back on my word. But hear this, I still have a mission to fulfill. I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman! All I have left is my destiny. My name may be infamous, but it is going to shake the world! And if any of you do something that gets in the way of my goals, you'll find yourselves at the business end of my swords."

"The World's Greatest Swordsman," said Luffy with a smile, "that's great. And it's fitting since your new Captain is going to be King of the Pirates. Anything else would make me look bad."

"You talk big," Zoro commented while still holding back all the marines.

"We can back it up," said Ed. "I'm gonna be the Ultimate Treasure Hunter when I find the Ultimate Treasure: One Piece."

"What are you standing around for?" Morgan demanded, "Hurry up and kill them!"

"Zoro, duck," Luffy ordered as he moved his foot back. "GUM… GUM… WHIP!" As Luffy whipped his leg around it stretched out passed the marines Luffy's rubber leg slammed into the marines and sent them flying.

"Wow, incredible!" Coby gasped.

"What the devil are you?" Zoro asked as he turned to Luffy.

"I'm a rubber man!" Luffy answered.

"A rubber man?" a marine repeated out of fear.

"Captain we can't kill this rubber monster, and that demon Roronoa Zoro at the same time!" another complained.

"And that third pirate has yet to do anything!" a third added, "But if he's with that rubber monster and the half-demon Roronoa Zoro he HAS to be tough!"

Ed grinned, he knew full well he wasn't as strong as Luffy, or even Zoro. But through association he was seen as some sort of monster.

"Those of you who were complaining just now, will take your guns and shoot yourself in the head," Captain Morgan ordered, "I WON'T TOLERATE USELESS SOLDIERS! NOW THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Ed stared indifferently, but Luffy and Zoro had more vocal reactions. "Something's wrong with those marines," Zoro commented.

"Hey, we're your enemies kill us instead!" Luffy called out as he charged at the marines, Ed followed behind him.

Luffy noticed Ed behind him and leapt over the marines, going right after Captain. Morgan, leaving Ed to take on the marines. "Alright men," said the leader of the marines, "Hold your positions! Hold your…"

Ed lunged forward and lashed out his leg, "**Speer Kick!**" Ed drove the steel sole of his boot into the marine leader's jaw. The impact of the steel on the bone was enough to fracture the jaw and knock the marine down to the ground. The marine didn't say anything else, he was out cold.

"Now," said Ed as he addressed the other marines as he rolled his sleeve back to reveal his tatto and pressed it, and in a cloud smoke a huge sword covered in bandages appeared in his hand. "This is _Samehada_, which means Shark skin. Like a real shark, my sword is bloodthirsty. Every time I draw it I have to provide a sacrifice, usually blood. If I don't provide the sacrifice, he won't work properly. I can get the sacrifice from you or myself if I have to…" Ed paused and held up his wrist to show the marines the cut he had made on himself after cutting the ropes holding Zoro. "I've had this sword for ten years and have never failed to make a sacrifice. Since I unsealed him out , _someone_ is going to get hurt and bleed."

A few of the marines looked nervous since they didn't exactly _want_ to get hurt and bleed.

"You have two choices. One, you can stay and fight, I'll start giving Samehada a marine meal and the majority of you are going to be bleeding and feeling like the life is sucked out of you when it's over. I'm a pretty good swordsman and that's just one of my skills, and you're a bunch of low-rank marines, you don't stand a chance. Your other option is to save yourselves from a great deal of pain and leave now."

The marines looked startled. Was this guy serious? Judging from the look in his eye that was visible, and the cut on his arm he was deadly serious. And what was that other thing? "I'm going to count to five," Ed continued. "When I'm done I'm going to attack. I suggest you get out of here before then, otherwise someone's blood is going to be spilled." Ed looked down the line of frightened marines, "One…" they showed no sign of moving, but were all extremely nervous.

"Two…" still no sign of moving. He didn't look _that_ tough, he was just a punk kid with a strange sword. He was only six feet tall, he wasn't _that_ big. Captain Morgan was taller than him. If they attacked him together they might be able to overwhelm him, they had the numbers advantage… that is… if you didn't count the rubber monster that was fighting the Captain… or the demon in human form Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter… or that tiny kid with the glasses…

"Three…" Ed slowly lifted _Samehada_ from his shoulder. Ed locked eyes with a marine on the end of the line and stared at him. The marine stared into Ed's one visible eye, it appeared to be just as calm as the pirate. How could this guy be so calm about slaughtering all of them? The marines started shaking all over… the pirate wasn't looking away from him. _If_ fighting broke out, he'd probably be the first one to get slashed. That wasn't something that sounded very appealing.

"Four…" The marine that Ed was staring at didn't want to stick around and promptly dropped his sword and ran. All they needed was one marine to start it, as one, the other marines turned and ran after their retreating comrade, in a matter of seconds they were gone.

"That's what I thought," said Ed as he lowered his blade onto the ground. Ed had just taken out an entire squadron of marines by talking to them.

"Nice bluff," Zoro commented as Ed walked over.

"Who says it was a bluff?" asked Ed. "They're following mob mentality, they need a leader to do anything. I took out the one who was giving orders with one kick, leaving them without one since the Captain was busy with Luffy. It merely took me making one of them run away before mob mentality took over again and sent them all running."

"Uh… sure…" Zoro replied who hadn't managed to follow what the one-eyed pirate had said. Zoro wasn't sure what to make of this other pirate. The rubber one was obviously in charge, but this one seemed to be dangerously smart. He was the one that gave that 'Luffy' character the idea to invade the marine base and steal back his swords and he had scared away a squadron of marines by _talking_ to them. That was impressive. He had also saved that little girl from that wolf three weeks ago, and despite getting clawed at and bitten, he got back up and acted like it was nothing. That sword of his also seemed interesting, Zoro wondered if the pirate knew how to use it. He'd have to keep an eye on him… both of them. With that in mind, Zoro turned and watched as Luffy fought Captain Morgan.

Morgan went to chop Luffy with his axe, but Luffy got his arm up and blocked it. "Hmph, you have neither rank, nor status," Captain Morgan told Luffy as he struggled to overpower the Straw Hat Pirate. "I'll teach you to respect you betters! I'm Captain 'Axe-Hand' Morgan!"

"Nice to meet ya," Luffy replied, "I'm 'Straw Hat' Luffy."

"DIE!" Morgan shouted as he swung his axe around at Luffy's head. Luffy ducked, causing Morgan to miss, then Luffy jumped up and over his head.

Morgan lifted his axe up again and swung down at Luffy, but Luffy moved out of the way, Luffy jumped out of the way, causing Morgan to drive his axe into the ground and create a large crack.

Luffy jumped up over Morgan's head while his axe was still in the ground, then he lashed out his legs and drove his feet into the Marine Captain's face,

Morgan went crashing down to the ground, but quickly got back up, "You little bastard!"

Luffy charged at Morgan and jumped up into the air, Morgan raised his axe above his head and swung it down at the approaching Luffy. Luffy spun around in midair and kicked Morgan in the face,

Again, Morgan went crashing to the ground. Everyone marveled at how Luffy was dismantling the Marine Captain. "You and your marines ruined Coby's dream!" Luffy yelled as he brought back his fist and punched Morgan in the face, He pulled back his hand and went to punch him again.

"STOP!" came a suddenly loud voice, but Luffy ignored it, Luffy drove his fist into Morgan's face for a big punch. "YOU IDIOT, I TOLD YOU TO STOP!"

It was Helmeppo and he had a gun pointed at Coby's head. "ONE FALSE MOVE AND FOUR-EYES GET IT!" shrieked Helmeppo.

Everyone stopped moving. Zoro and Ed stood in between Helmeppo and Luffy, who stood up and stepped away from Morgan.

"Luffy," Coby bravely said, "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! I'M NOT AFRAID TO DIE!"

"Okay, I know," said Luffy with a grin. "You stupid bastard," Luffy said to Helmeppo, "Coby's not afraid of death! Go ahead and shoot!"

"Fine, I'll shoot him!" Helmeppo threatened as he prepared to shoot.

"You can try," Ed stated as he stared Helmeppo in the eye. "But the question is, will you be able to kill him before I get to you?"

"Wh-what?" Helmeppo stammered in shock.

Ed looked over his shoulder at Luffy, "With your permission Captain, I'd like to handle this."

"Go for it," Luffy replied with a nod and a smile.

"Everyone's been hitting you lately," Ed pointed out as he turned his attention back on Helmeppo, still as calm as ever. "Zoro hit you three weeks ago, Luffy hit you earlier, judging from the bruise on the other side of your face 'daddy' probably hit you too. I'm starting to feel left out."

Helmeppo started shaking, this guy had taken countless punches to the face over the passed three weeks without even flinching. Given the strength of Roronoa Zoro and the rubber monster he was bound to be strong too. Getting hit by this guy wasn't a pleasant thought.

"You spent the last three weeks punching me and I never fought back once," Ed reminded him. "The only thing I did was sneak Zoro some food so he'd survive your stupid agreement. Tell me, did you enjoy it?"

"W-well I…"

"I endured in silence for three weeks all for this moment," said Ed as he glared at Helmeppo, "The moment when I'd be able to finally hit you back."

"Y-you w-wouldn't d-dare!" Helmeppo stammered, the gun he was pointing at Coby's head was shaking. "I… I've got a hostage! I'll sh-shoot him!

"Have you ever killed anyone before?" asked Ed calmly as he slowly took a step towards Helmeppo, leaving Zoro standing between him and Luffy. Behind Luffy, Captain Morgan was slowly getting back up. "Hitting someone when they can't defend themselves is one thing. But actually taking a life is another entirely. You're too much of a pansy to kill anyone, you always have your daddy and your little boy-toys do it."

Ed took another step towards the trembling Helmeppo, his hold on the gun was loosening. "Now you have to wonder, will you be able to find the resolve to kill that boy and pull the trigger before I get to you? No daddy to hide behind now. You're gonna have to be a man and fight for yourself."

Helmeppo's hand was sweaty and the gun was barely pointed at Coby's head any more. "DADDY KILL HIM!" Helmeppo shrieked as he pointed his gun at Ed and fired,

Luffy, Ed, Zoro, Coby, and even Captain Morgan – who had just gotten up and had his axe up in the air over Luffy's head – stopped and stared in surprise.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN RELOAD IT!" Morgan bellowed, forgetting about hitting Straw Hat for a split second.

But that was all it took. Zoro rushed passed Luffy at Morgan while he was distracted by his son's incompetence and slashed all three swords, "**Santoryu:Onigiri/Three Swords Style: Demon Slash!**" Zoro used all three of his swords to cut Morgan across the chest, the Marine Captain went crashing down to the ground and was out cold.

"DADDY NOOO!" Helmeppo wailed as Ricky rushed at him and lashed out his leg.

"Speer… KICK!" Ed drove the steel sole of his shoe into Helmeppo's cleft chin. One of his teeth went flying out as he went flying up into the air then came crashing down to the ground already unconscious,

"Nice job guys," said Luffy with a huge smile, both the Marine Captain and his idiot son were out cold.

"No sweat, _Captain_," Zoro replied while Ed gave Luffy a 'thumbs up'.

* * *

"The Captain lost!" a shocked marine gasped, who was hiding off to the side, "Captain Morgan has been defeated!"

"If they still want to die," Zoro said loudly, "why should we deny them that opportunity?" He turned to the marines and looked at them directly, "If any of you still want to arrest us come and get us!" Ed folded his arms across his chest and looked indifferent, while Luffy turned and stared at them as well.

The marines all paused for a moment, then to all of the pirates' surprise, threw up their weapons and shouted in elation.

"We're free!"

"We are out of Morgan's control!"

"Long live the Marines!"

"What's going on?" Zoro wondered while Ed raised an eyebrow. "They seem happy that Morgan was defeated. Is this more mob mentality?"

"No," Ed answered.

"Everyone hated Morgan," Coby observed. "He was beaten so they don't have to follow his orders now."

Now that he was given an explanation and now that the adrenalin had worn off, Zoro went crashing to the ground and passed out.

"He's not dead," Ed reported calmly after taking a second to check on him, "just really hungry." Having a meal snuck to him a few nights a week would only get you so far, the days he had gone without food had finally caught up to him.

* * *

A little while later Luffy, Coby, Ed, and Zoro were all sitting at a table in the familiar tavern. Ririka had been kind enough to give them an extra-large amount of food. Coby and Ed ate a normal amount, but that couldn't be said for Luffy and Zoro. Zoro hadn't eaten for days and was making up for it, while Luffy… he was just hungry.

"I'm stuffed!" Zoro announced when he was finally done, "Not eating regularly was worse than I thought!"

"See, you would have never lasted a month," said Luffy as he kept eating.

"Look at you," Zoro pointed out. "You're eating more than me!"

"He has a rubber stomach," Ed explained, "it stretches like the rest of him and takes a while to fill."

"Even I ate quite a bit," Coby admitted.

"Don't worry," said Ririka, "You saved our town, it's the least I can do!"

Ed dug into his bottom left pocket and pulled out a sack of what sounded like gold, it was the same one he had bet Nami in Morgan's office. "Take this," Ed instructed his employer as he handed her the sack. "I'll pay for the food."

"No I couldn't…" Ririka protested as she tried to hand the sack back.

"I insist," said Ed as he folded his arms across his chest, leaving no room for argument.

"Th-thank you. You've done so much for me this last month, your friends too. I'll never be able to repay you."

Ed simply shrugged, "Would this be a good time to tell you that I quit?"

"You were great!" Rika told Luffy.

"Yeah I know," said Luffy, "And I'll become even greater!"

"So what's next?" asked Zoro.

"We're heading for the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Already?" questioned Ed.

"That's suicide!" Coby yelled, "The three of you would never survive on your own! Don't you understand, the world's strongest pirates all gather there!"

"I've heard rumors about that place from sailors that came through here," Ririka added. "Most people that go there, never come back. The only person I've ever known who's been to the Grand Line and left alive is your new First Mate." Ririka gave Ed a pointed look.

"Luffy," said Ed. "I was there for a while the last two years and I saw stuff that would make Morgan whimper like a baby. If we're gonna find One Piece and go to the Grand Line, we're going to need a ship, and more supplies."

"If we're going after One Piece then we're going to have to go there eventually," Zoro reasoned.

"I know," Ed agreed. "I'm all for it, I'm just saying we're unprepared."

"You guys are talking crazy!" Coby shouted.

"What are you so worried about?" Zoro asked, "It's not like you're coming with us."

"But I'm worried about you!" Coby exclaimed. "Is that so wrong? Can't I worry about my friends?" Coby turned to Luffy, "Luffy, even though we just met, but we are friends, aren't we?"

"Yep!" answered Luffy with a big smile. "Even though we're going out separate ways, we'll always be friends."

"You're the first real friend I ever had," said Coby, who looked like he was about to cry, "You were the first one who ever stood up for me. Even I wouldn't stand up for myself! But thanks to you guys I learned to fight for my dreams."

"That's why we're going to the Grand Line," said Luffy.

"Makes sense to me," Zoro agreed.

"But, wait a minute, Luffy, I'm trying to convince you that you're being too reckless!" Coby snapped.

"First of all, you'd better worry about yourself," Zoro advised as he tapped one of his swords on Coby's head. "Even though you were just doing chores on a pirate ship, you were still aiding pirates. Don't underestimate the marines' ability to gather information. If they know about your past they won't let you enlist."

"Well if you're both set on going to the Grand Line so soon…" Ed commented, "Then I think I know where we can get a chart."

"Excuse me," came a voice. Everyone turned to see Commander Ripper, a dark skinned marine with a neat black goatee. He wore a traditional marine uniform but also had a dark green necktie, signifying his rank as Commander. He was one rank below Captain Morgan and now that the corrupt officer had been defeated, he was taking over. Standing behind him was a battalion of other marines. "You guys are pirates right?"

"Yep," Luffy answered, "And I just got my first two crew members! That makes me an official pirate captain!"

"You're not supposed to tell them that," Ed muttered.

"You saved our town," said Commander Ripper, "And we are truly grateful. However we are still marines and we can not allow you to stay any longer. I'll have to ask you to leave. But to show our gratitude we won't report you to Marine Headquarters."

"Hey marines, what are you saying?" an angry villager exclaimed, "They saved this town! They're your heroes as much as they are ours!"

"Well I guess we'll be leaving," said Luffy as he, Zoro, and Ed stood up, "Thank you for the food ma'am." The three pirates were emotionless as the walked passed Coby and towards the door.

"Aren't you with them?" Ripper asked Coby.

"I…" Coby trailed off when he remembered Luffy saying how they'd always be friends, "I'm not… I'm not with them!" A small smirk appeared on Luffy's face as he headed out the door.

"Excuse me, pirates," the Commander called out as he turned back to Luffy, "Is he telling the truth?"

Luffy slowly turned around, "I know what this guy used to do…" Luffy started to say, causing Coby to stare in shock, silently begging Luffy not to continue. At the same time Ed slowly leaned back against the door frame.

"I can't remember where," Luffy continued. "But there was this FAAAT female pirate… I think her name was Alvida…"

"Stop,"Coby mumbled, "If they know I worked on a pirate ship before… then they won't let me join the marines. Don't say anymore."

"It was this fierce and ugly female pirate," Luffy continued as he walked over and poked Coby's head, "this guy spent two years…"

"Please… shut up…" Coby whimpered, he was going to lose his best chance of joining the marines, "SHUT UP!" Coby suddenly swung his fist and punched Luffy in the face. Ed and Zoro just stood there and watched their Captain go down like a ton of bricks.

"Why you little…" Luffy growled. He retaliated and punched Coby in the face, "Take that! And this!"

"ENOUGH!" Commander Ripper shouted. "Both of you stop! I won't allow this town to have anymore fights!" Zoro walked forward and pulled Luffy off of Coby.

"I can tell he isn't your friend," said Ripper. "Now please, leave this town immediately!"

Zoro dragged Luffy passed the marines and out the door, Ed turned to the marine leader who was staring at him then fished into his pocket and pulled out a bag of money that he had gotten out of Captain Morgan's safe.

"I got this from Morgan's safe in the Marine Base," he informed Ripper as he handed him the bag. "These people need it more than I do, see that it gets to them. We're pirates, so we can always steal more from someone else." With that he turned and followed after Luffy and Zoro, leaving Coby lying on the floor.

"_That was his plan,"_ Coby thought to himself. _"He did it for me, he wanted to make me mad and make me hit him. Even in the very end I still needed his help. What am I helpless? Am I that pathetic? If I don't take this chance then everything they did will be a waste!"_

Coby slowly stood up, while the three pirates calmly walked out of town towards the dock. Luffy and Zoro had almost gone the wrong way, but Ed grabbed them and pulled them along with him. It was good that they had someone with a sense of direction.

"Please, let me join the marines!" Coby requested of the Commander. "Even if it's chores, I will do them!"

"Commander, I'm against it," a marine protested, "We can not accept a person whose past is so unclear. There have been events where pirates have joined the marines to be spies! We need to properly check his background before we can decide."

"I'M NOT A PIRATE!" Coby shouted, he wasn't going to be pushed around, "MY DREAM IS TO BECOME A MARINE!"

Ripper stared at Coby and was surprised by the determined look on his face, "I can't tell you how many of our comrades have been killed by pirates over the years, this is a big step you're taking."

"S-so…"

"Permission to join granted," Commander Ripper stated.

"Thank you, sir!" said Coby with a salute.

* * *

"Luffy, it's a good thing you're a pirate, not an actor," Ed told his brother as they reached the harbor.

"That was pretty bad," Zoro agreed, "I wouldn't be surprised if they saw right through it."

"Well it's all up to Coby now," Luffy replied, he didn't care if he had bad acting skills. The King of the Pirates doesn't need to act he just needs to be a great pirate. "Whether Coby gets in or not is up to him."

"It's good to be leaving," said Zoro, "Everyone hates us."

"No they don't," Ed reminded him. "We freed them from Captain Morgan. Now the marines that aren't corrupt can change things for the better. The people can get their money back and live better lives without Morgan taxing them like crazy. We helped a lot of people. We're heroes to the people of this town."

"I guess we're not your typical example of pirates," Zoro remarked.

"You're a former Pirate Hunter, I'm a former Treasure Hunter, and…"

"L-LUFFY!" came Coby's voice, causing all three pirates to turn and see their friend panting and out of breathe. "Thank you very much! I will never forget what you've done for me!" Then Coby raised his hand and saluted the pirates, beside him, Rika and Ririka had come along too.

"That's new," Ed remarked.

"I've never seen a marine salute a pirate before," Zoro commented.

"Big Brother, were you going to leave without saying goodbye?" Rika called after Ed.

"I knew I forgot something," Ed replied, he walked over to Rika and knelt down so she could hug him. "Take care."

Ed stood up and nodded at Ririka, "You too ma'am, thank you for—"

"Come here, you!" Ririka reached out and hugged Ed too, "I'm the one who should be thanking you. The three of you freed the village from those criminals. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Ed told her. "Seriously, don't. We don't want the marines coming after us when we've just started out." With one final nod towards Rika and her mother Ed turned around then ran and jumped into the boat Luffy and Zoro had gotten situated in. "They said 'thank you'," he told his Nakama.

"Coby, we'll meet again someday!" Luffy called out as they pushed off from the dock and began sailing off.

"Atten-tion!" came a loud voice, "Group salute!" Then to everyone's surprise, Commander Ripper and all of the marines raised their hands and saluted the three pirates.

"You've got some great friends there," Ripper commented as the little boat started setting off, "Now! We just saluted pirates and violated marine codes. So, as punishment, we will all go without food for three days!"

"Yes sir," the other marines chorused, not worried about the consequences.

"_I know that we'll meet again some day,"_ Coby thought to himself. _"Deep inside I feel it as much as I've ever felt anything. Even if we are divided as pirates and marines, I still look forward to that day."_

* * *

Off in a distance the small sailboat was drifting off wherever the wind took it. Luffy stood at the front of the boat staring at the sea in front of them, while Zoro sat down and leaned against the side. Ed was leaning back against the mast and was staring up at the clouds. "At last our pirate crew has set sail."

"I've got the feeling some interesting adventures are waiting for us," said Zoro.

"And if that's the way our first team-up ended, I can only imagine what those are gonna end like," Ed commented.

"Hahaha, I'll be King of the Pirates, I know it," Luffy said mostly to himself as he stared off into the horizon.

'Straw Hat' Luffy and his new Nakama, 'Cold Magician'Ed, and 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro set sail. Luffy's Nakama may have grown, but so have the obstacles and challenges that lay ahead of them.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello everybody i'm back with a new chapter, sorry for the delay. And if you're asking yes, the elemental nations ARE a part of the grand line in this fic, Whitebeard's territory to be exact. and as for the elements Eddy-boy uses, the fact that he uses Samehada, i think one of the three is clear. Read, Enjoy and Review kindly**

* * *

The three Straw Hat Pirates were drifting along in their little boat in comfortable silence. But the silence was eventually broken by Luffy.

"I'm starving!" Luffy complained. Luffy and Zoro were sitting in the bottom of the boat while Ed was up top watching the clouds up above them. He was lying back on the wooden rigging on top of the sail and somehow managed to balance himself there while he rested his head against the tip of the mast.

"It's funny that you have absolutely no navigation skills," Zoro commented to Luffy.

"Why?" asked Luffy, "Drifting has worked pretty well for me so far. What about you? You're supposed to be the terror of the seas!"

"I don't recall ever calling myself that," said Zoro, "I followed a pirate I was after out to sea, but I couldn't find my way back home. So I made the best of things and went after the pirates that were in the area. I had to get some money somehow…"

"So you got lost?" questioned Luffy.

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped, "You didn't have to out it like that! Anyway, what kind of pirate doesn't know how to navigate? Ricky was right, at this rate we'll never make it to the Grand Line. We've got to find a Navigator as soon as possible."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed, "and a cook, and a musician…"

"Those can wait!" Zoro exclaimed, then he and Luffy promptly fell back on the floor of the boat. Zoro wondered what he'd gotten himself into when he agreed to join up with such a simple-minded captain.

"I'm starving," Luffy complained once again.

"Guys," Ed addressed the other two as he climbed down from on top of the sail, and sat down in the bottom with the other two. "I have no idea where we are. I haven't navigated the East Blue in ages. We need a map or an _actual_ Navigator."

"Didn't you say you knew where to get a chart to the Grand Line?" asked Luffy, who's short memory span was actually pretty good when it pertained to something that interested him.

"I did," Ed answered. "When I was looking for Zoro's swords in the Marine Base I came across this thief. She was trying to steal a chart to the Grand Line, but someone already took it."

"So how do we get it?" asked Luffy.

"We need to find a pirate named Buggy the Clown," Ed explained. "He's the one who stole the chart. He _should_ still have it, unless the thief managed to beat us there and already stole it from him."

It was silent as Luffy and Zoro thought about what they had to do. Ed broke the silence when he suddenly asked, "Is that a bird?" Oddly enough, he wasn't even looking up.

"Yeah! Look at that turkey!" exclaimed Luffy as he stared up at the pink bird flying above them, "It looks pretty big." Everyone paused and looked up at the bird, they no longer had any food and were really hungry, "Let's eat it!" Luffy decided.

"Huh? How?" Zoro wondered.

"I'll catch it," Luffy offered as he grabbed the sides of the boat and then walked backwards, his hands stayed where they were while his arms stretched.

"Wait Luffy," Ed interrupted. "That's not a good idea. There's a very low probability of you and that bird landing in the boat. You'll most likely end up in the water, and we all know that you can't swim."

"But I'm hungry!" Luffy complained.

"Shoot_ me_ up there, I'll catch it," Ed suggested as he climbed back up onto the top of the sail and somehow stood balanced on the wooden rigging. "At least _I_ can swim."

"Oh, okay," Luffy agreed. He stretched his arms upward and grabbed Ed's shoulders then walked backwards, when he reached the end of the boat he hooked his foot on the edge and crouched down. When the bird got in position he let go and shouted, "**Gum… Gum… Slingshot**!" Luffy went flying forward and up, Luffy slammed hard into Ed's back and launched him up into the air, Luffy dropped down onto the deck while Ed went rocketing up towards the bird.

"How'd you come up with that?" Zoro inquired.

"Ed's my brother, we've been doing stuff like this since we were kids," Luffy explained as he and Zoro stared up at Ed as he got closer to the bird.

But suddenly the two of them realized that the bird was much bigger than it appeared. The bird opened its big beak and bit down around Ricky's middle, trapping him in its beak.

"Curse my luck," the agitated pirate muttered, there was a large tick-mark on his forehead.

"Oops," said Luffy.

"You idiot!" Zoro scolded him.

"Guys… a little help…" Ed called out, surprisingly not panicking as the giant bird flew off with him still clutched in its beak. He didn't want to attack the bird because he was floating high up above the water and even if he and the bird landed on the boat, with the size of the bird, it'd probably capsize their little vessel.

"Come back you giant turkey!" Luffy hollered after the bird as he grabbed the oars and started rowing the boat after it. "I wanna eat you! …and rescue Ed."

"Rescuing the First Mate is an after thought?" Zoro yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was hungry!" Luffy protested as he kept rowing at a frantic speed.

"Hey Luffy, look out behind you," Zoro advised as he noticed three figures bobbing up and down in the water directly in the path of the boat. "There are people in the water."

"Huh?" The boat suddenly plowed into the three people in the water but the managed to grab onto the boat and pulled themselves on at the last minute.

"Great you made it," said Zoro as he glared at Luffy who hadn't stopped rowing in an attempt to catch his lunch."

"Were you _trying_ to run us over?" one of the now saved people demanded as he glared at Luffy.

"Why is this guy so reckless?" another one complained.

"Hey, stop the boat!" the third person commanded as he drew a sword. "We're pirates under Captain Buggy."

"What?" questioned Zoro, he and Luffy shared a glance and grinned.

* * *

Approximately five seconds later the three pirates were now rowing the boat. But in the time it took for Luffy and Zoro to take out the three of them, they had lost sign of the bird… and Ricky.

"We're sorry Mr. Pirate Hunter, Zoro, sir, Mr. Straw Hat, sir," apologized one of the pirates as they continued rowing one of the oars. The three pirates were a little band sometimes referred to as the Three Stooges. Their names were Carl, Lenny, and Moe. **(A/N: Not really, but I needed to give them names and they were the first incompetent trio I could think of.)**

"You jerks made me lose track of my lunch!" Luffy snapped as he glared at them.

"And our First Mate," Zoro added.

"Him too!" Luffy agreed.

"Keep rowing," Zoro instructed, "because if we don't find him, the three of you will be very sorry."

"Why were you floating in the middle of the ocean?" Luffy curiously inquired, his short attention span went from his lost lunch… and First Mate, to their "guests".

"I'll tell you how! Thanks for reminding us," said a pirate wearing a hat with the insignia of Buggy the Clown on it, his name was Moe.

"It was that girl," said another pirate, he had big crazy looking orange hair and was called Lenny.

"Yeah, it was all her fault!" Moe snapped.

"She was really cute though," the third pirate admitted, he had short hair, dark skin, and was chubby, he was called Carl.

"You see, the three of us just finished robbing a ship, and were on our way back to Captain Buggy," Larry started to explain.

The three pirates then explained to Luffy and Zoro how they had come across another boat, with a teenage girl, who appeared to be passed out, riding in it. The three pirates pulled up along side of it and to see what was going on.

The girl woke up and asked the pirates for help and promised them that she'd give them the gold in her treasure chest. The pirates hopped on board the girl's boat and checked her chest… her _treasure _chest, but it was empty.

The next thing they knew, the girl hopped into _their_ boat and sailed off with _their_ treasure. Then before they could catch up to her, a sudden storm came in and capsized the boat, causing all three pirates to struggle to swim in the water.

"And that's what happened," Moe finished, "Terrible, huh?"

"She predicted the weather, that girl must be something special," Zoro commented. "She'd make a great Navigator."

"We should recruit her!" decided Luffy. "We need a navigator like Ed said… but I think we should get a musician first."

"What!" shouted four voices.

"Pirates have to sing, right?" Luffy pointed out.

"You guys said you worked for _Buggy the Clown, _right?" asked Zoro in an attempt to change the subject.

"Who's this Captain Buggy?" Luffy wondered.

"Yes, Buggy the Clown is our Captain," Moe answered as he turned to the two Straw Hat Pirates. "Haven't you ever heard of _"Buggy the Clown"_? He's a dangerous man who ate one of the Devil's Fruit."

"Ate a Devil Fruit?" Zoro repeated, Luffy appeared to not be listening.

'_Wasn't Buggy the Clown the guy that Ed said we needed to find?'_ Zoro thought to himself. _'If we want the map to the Grand Line, we'll have to get it from him somehow.'_

"Hey, take us to see this Captain Buggy of yours," Zoro ordered.

"Yes sir!" the three Stooges agreed.

"What're you doing Zoro?" asked Luffy.

"Trying to find the First Mate, and a map to the Grand Line," Zoro answered.

"Hey! Good idea!" Luffy exclaimed.

* * *

A while away, on Organ Island was a deserted town called Orange Town. Docked at sea was a carnival themed pirate ship, which probably explained why the village was empty. Well… empty except for a certain eighteen year old orange-haired girl was running away as fast as she could. She was holding a rolled up piece of paper in her hand that appeared to be some sort of chart or map. Nami was wearing the same outfit she had been earlier today at Shell Town, a white and blue striped short-sleeved shirt and a short yellow skirt. On her feet were the same pair of high-heeled sandals.

"Stop! You can't run from us!" came a loud shout of a group of three large but strange looking pirates that were chasing after the girl, "Thief! Give us back that chart!"

'_I finally have it,'_ Nami said to herself as she ran off as fast as she could, _'The chart of the Grand Line.'_

"Damn!" cursed one of the pirates chasing her. "If we don't get that chart back, we're dead! If Captain Buggy finds out what happened, he's gonna kill us!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on top of a pub near the harbor, "Captain Buggy, there's an unknown object flying in the air!" A pirate reported, "What should we do?"

"Use the cannon and shoot it down," came Captain Buggy's order.

* * *

Nami was still running from the three pirates when a cannon was fired and struck an object flying and the three pirates stared in shock as a red-haired teenage boy fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

"Ow," came a calm voice in the cloud of smoke and dust.

The smoke cleared and revealed Ed, slowly getting back up to his feet almost completely unscathed.

"What! He's still alive!" a pirate exclaimed.

"Where heck am I?" Ed wondered as he glanced around him.

Suddenly Nami had an idea, she smiled ran up to the strange boy who had fallen out of the sky and hugged him, "Boss!" she exclaimed, "You're finally here! I knew you'd come and save me! I'll just leave everything to you, and I'll let you handle these guys."

"Huh?" questioned Ed as Nami released him and ran off, leaving him with the three pirates.

"Hey! She ran off again!" one of the pirates realized.

"We don't have to chase her anymore," said another pirate. "We've still got her boss right here. He's a bigger prize than she is."

The three pirates surrounded Ed and were all at least two inches taller than him and all of them appeared to be going with the buff tough-guy look. But despite that, Ed didn't seem the least bit intimidated.

"What now _boss_?" a pirate taunted. "That chart was property of Captain Buggy the Clown!"

"Chart?" Ed repeated in confusion.

"You stole that chart from Captain Buggy, prepare to die!" The three pirates drew their swords and charged at Ed in a triangle formation in order to keep him properly surrounded

"Captain Buggy?" Ricky questioned as he reached down and Unsealed _Samehada_, he held the long handle of his sword with both hands then began to spin. "**hai miekka: myrsky viilto/ Shark Sword: storm cut**!"While spinning Ed swung his around and sliced all three of the pirates before they could defend themselves. Ed stood there and the blood from the three pirates seemed to be absorbed into the bandaged blade while the pirates were left with blood dripping out of gashes in their chest. The three of them went crashing to the ground unconscious. Ed put his satisfied sword back into its seal.

"Wow," came a voice from a balcony overlooking the street. It turned out to be Nami, who had gone around the corner and climbed up onto the room of the house while Ed was fighting. "You're really strong. You beat those guys with in less than five seconds! Hey wait a minute… you're that Treasure Hunter from the Shell Town Marine Base!"

"Hold on… don't tell me…" said Ed as he tried to remember the girl's name. "Nami, the thief that robs pirates, right?"

* * *

"That's right, I rob pirates," Nami repeated. "You know if we team up and work together we could get a lot of treasure and make a fortune!"

"Why would I team up with you?" asked Ed, who wasn't all that fond of teaming up with someone who robbed pirates, he was a pirate after-all. "Last time we ran into each other, neither of us was successful."

Nami quickly jumped down from the balcony and walked up to him, "But its strange how we keep running into each other," Nami pointed out. "First at the Marine Base, and then you come falling out of the sky. It's like fate or something."

"Don't talk to me about Fate," Ed suddenly growled, his calm voice turned cold and held a hint of anger for the first time since his landing. With that, he turned around and started walking off.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Nami called out as she followed him.

"Leave me alone," said Ed as he started walking off, "I've got things to do."

Ed stomach betrayed him signifying that he was hungry.

"Look, you're obviously hungry," Nami observed, "I can help you find something to eat, and maybe you'll reconsider teaming up."

"Well… I guess I can't say no to a free meal," Ricky agreed.

"Alright, come on then!" Nami grabbed his hand and pulled him off through the deserted town in search of food.

* * *

Meanwhile on the roof of the Drinker's Pub, the flag of Buggy the Clown was flying. The skull and crossbones had a big red nose and crosses of eye make up on the eye holes, making it look like a clown. Down on the roof, Buggy the Clown was angry. "You still haven't caught that thief yet?" he asked some of his pirates. Buggy the Clown had blue hair, a big red nose and a skull and crossbones painted on his forehead which was visible under the Captain's hat he was wearing.

"We're trying to catch her, sir," a pirate reported in an attempt to calm down the easily-angered captain.

"This is inexcusable!" said Buggy, "How could you let the chart of the Grand Line get stolen? Just when we were about to head there and raise some hell!"

"Well you see Captain Buggy, sir," the pirate explained. "Someone left the chart out on a table in the pub downstairs. Now only the robber knows…"

"What did you say?" Captain Buggy interrupted.

"I said robber knows," the pirate answered, realizing too late that he had pissed Buggy off.

"What Rubber nose?" Buggy screeched as he turned over a chair and got ready to kill the foolish pirate. "Does my nose look funny to you?" Buggy demanded. Buggy's red clown nose was a very sensitive subject. Anyone who made fun of it, or said something that Buggy mistook for making fun of it, was punished severely.

"I didn't say that sir," the terrified pirate protested. "It was a mistake! I meant the thief!"

"So now it looks fake! it looks like beef!" Buggy shrieked in outrage, that was three times that the fool had 'insulted' his nose, now he'd pay! "For this you die!"

"Please Captain," came the pirate's strangled reply, "I didn't."

"Who am I?" Buggy growled as the pirate started floating up into the air, while holding his throat and gasping for breath.

"Captain… I can't breathe!" the pirate wheezed as his feet left the ground.

"Ready the cannon," Pirate Captain Buggy the Clown ordered as he sat back down on his chair and surveyed the scene before him.

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" the pirate protested.

"Die flashily!" Buggy screamed. The cannon was fired and blasted the pirate with a huge explosion. When it cleared, there was nothing left. "Now get my chart back. And take all of the treasure left in this town."

"Yes sir!" came the pirate's reply as they scurried off. Buggy was in a bad mood and none of them wanted to linger and risk getting blown up with a cannon balls.

* * *

Sometime later, Nami and Ed had found an abandoned house and Ed had gotten his promised meal. Over that time he told Nami how he and his crew of "_treasure hunters" _had gotten hungry and he had tried to catch a bird, only to miscalculate how big the bird really was and get caught in its beak and taken away. As a result he lost his Nakama.

"Weird," said Nami, once Ed had told her how he had gotten separated from his crew, "So you lost your friends at sea? How big is your crew?"

"Just two other guys," Ed answered. "This isn't your house, is it?"

"No. All of the people in the town have left because they're scared of Captain Buggy and his pirates," Nami explained. "The town is practically deserted, I've been staying at this house while I've been in town."

"Captain Buggy? Oh, so that means you got that chart you were after."

"Yup," Nami replied as she held up the rolled up chart she had stolen from Buggy. "Thanks to this I can go to the Grand Line. I've got to collect one hundred million berries, and then I'm going to buy a certain village."

"Buy a village? Typical pirates don't have that much. You'll have to go after really tough pirates if you wanna get that kind of money."

"That's why I've got this," Nami said as she held up the chart again, "First I'm gonna steal Buggy's treasure, then I plan to head to the Grand Line and steal treasure from the famous pirates there. What do you think? Do you want to join me? I could use a tough guy like you."

"Tempting," Ed commented.

"Come on, surely a Treasure Hunter like you can appreciate some good treasure," Nami continued to press him. "Together we'll make a fortune, and we can split it fifty-fifty."

"I don't know…"

Nami leaned over the table and batted her eyes at him, "I'm told I can be great company," she said with a flirty wink.

"Hm…" Ed thought it over for a moment and was seemingly oblivious to the orange haired girl that was attempting to flirt with him, "Do you know anything about navigation?"

"Of course I do," Nami quickly answered, "I'm the best navigator around."

"That's convenient. My Nakama and I are in need of a decent navigator, and we were planning on heading to the Grand Line too."

"Really?"

"You could be our navigator and we could go to the Grand Line together. I've been there before, and I can honestly tell you, you won't stand a chance on your own."

"Sure!" Nami agreed eagerly. _"This Treasure Hunter and his friends can beat everyone up, and I'll walk away with all the treasure."_

"There's just one catch though…"

"What?" asked Nami as her eyes narrowed.

"Well… I'm not exactly a Treasure Hunter anymore. I recently became the First Mate of a relatively new pirate crew."

"Forget it! You lied to me, _pirate_! You said you were a Treasure Hunter! If there's one thing in this world I can't stand, its pirates! But I love money and tangerines."

"To be fair, when I told you I was a Treasure Hunter I was only recently recruited. My new Captain can be oddly persuasive… our other crewmate is Roronoa Zoro."

"The Pirate _Hunter_ is on your _pirate _crew? So that's why you were after his swords."

"Yeah," Ed replied as he slowly stood up and headed for the door. "But I guess we can't work together. That's a pity because you could've been a part of something great."

"What are you talking about?" asked Nami curiously.

"You've heard of the One Piece, haven't you?" Ed inquired as he stopped walking and stood there staring at the door in front of him.

"Everyone's heard of that. All of you stupid pirates are after it."

"It's the Ultimate Treasure and as a Treasure Hunter it's my dream to find it."

"What, so _you're_ gonna be King of the Pirates?"

"No. My Captain's gonna be King of the Pirates. _I'm_ gonna find the treasure."

"You sound confident, but what makes you think you can find it?" asked Nami. "Pirates with the same dream as you have been looking for it for decades."

"That's because my Captain just set out about a week ago," Ed told her, sounding as serious as he ever did. "He's going to be King of the Pirates and I'll help him every step of the way. If you reconsider joining out pirate crew you'll have a chance to see and do things you could only dream of. We're going to change the world and it'll be the adventure of a lifetime. Don't think of it as teaming up with pirates, just thing about all the money you could make, think of all the places you could see, the weird people you'd meet."

Ed turned around and watched Nami as she sat at the table and stared at him, she was obviously thinking it over. "I'll reconsider on one condition," Nami eventually decided.

"Keep talking."

"Its just one tiny, little thing… Go with me to see Buggy."

"You stole the chart from him and now you want to visit him? He'll kill you on the spot."

"I wanna steal Buggy's treasure. Think of this as a test. It'll determine how things will go in the future. If we can manage it, I'll think about joining your pirate crew."

"What did you have in mind?" Ed asked, looking vaguely interested.

* * *

A few minutes later, Nami and Ed were walking down the road. Nami had a rope wrapped around her arm.

"At the end of this road is the Drinker's Pub," Nami pointed out, "That's where Captain Buggy is staying.

"Alight, let's start this plan of yours," said Ed. "Hopefully Buggy's as stupid as you think he is."

"It'll work," Nami assured him as she took her rope and tied his hands behind his back, then wrapped the rope around his body keeping his arms pinned to his back.

"Not the legs," Ed interrupted as he swung his legs away from her.

"Why not? It needs to look convincing."

"Then you'll have to drag me the whole way. It'll be unpleasant for both of us. Besides, it's a fallback plan."

"Fine," Nami conceded as she took the remaining rope and pulled Ricky down the road after her.

* * *

Meanwhile on top of the Drinker's Pub…

"WHAAAAT?" Captain Buggy roared in outrage. "You let the thief get away again! How could you let her escape!"

"We're sorry Captain," the three pirates that Ed had beaten up earlier apologized. "But this Trickster was really strong and really fast. He beat us before we could blink!"

"for this you die!" Buggy shouted, he prepared to execute his three henchmen for a crime even more severe than insulting his nose: Losing or stealing one of his important possessions.

But luckily for the trio, another pirate ran in and drew Buggy's attention with a loud announcement "Captain Buggy!" the small dark-skinned pirate with a pointed hat called out as he ran over, "It's the thief! She just walked through the door!"

"Good, bring her in here," Buggy instructed, "… wait hold on! What's she planning?"

"I don't know," the pirate admitted as Nami walked in pulling Ed behind her.

"That's him!" one of the pirates that Ricky had beaten exclaimed, "The Trickster who fell from the sky! He's the thief's boss!"

"Captain Buggy," said Nami as she held the tied Ricky next to her, "I've already caught the thief, and here's your chart?"

"Nami… what's going on?" asked Ed, his eye narrowed.

"Hmm… you're returning the chart?" questioned Buggy, "What's this all about?"

"I had a fight with my boss," Nami answered, "He's an idiot, so I decided to try and join up with you."

"Bwahahahaha! An idiot, huh?" Buggy laughed, "I like you. I think I'll accept you and let you join as part of my crew."

'_Mission accomplished,'_ Nami thought to herself, _'Now I just need to steal back the chart, steal Buggy's treasure, and get out of here.'_

"You traitor," Ed growled at her. "How could you sell me out for this sorry excuse for a pirate and even sorrier excuse for clown?"

"What did you say?" Buggy demanded.

"You heard me," Ed stated, not intimidated in the slightest. "You're a sorry excuse for a pirate. Why else would you be in the East Blue? It's supposed to be the weakest of the world's oceans. And if your pirate captain skills are anything to go by, you must be a terrible clown too."

_'Why is he antagonizing him?' _Nami thought to herself, _'He'll get killed if he keeps this up.'_

"HOW DARE YOU!" Buggy shrieked. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to!"

"I'm talking to a clown who probably can't even juggle," Ed retorted.

"I c_an so_ juggle!" Buggy insisted.

"Then prove it," Ed challenged him. "So far you have yet to impress me."

"Why would I need to impress _you_?" Buggy growled. "I'm a notorious pirate captain! I have a bounty of fifteen million berries on my head! You're just a one-eyed nobody thief."

"Yeah," Ed agreed, "I'm just a one-eyed nobody thief that would've gotten away with stealing your chart of the Grand Line if _someone_ hadn't sold me out to the sorry excuse for a circus you call a pirate crew."

"I'm going to kill you," Buggy threatened in a deadly voice. "When I'm done, they won't even be able to find pieces to identify you with. However…" Buggy reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a bunch of knives. "As a last request from a doomed man I'll prove that I _can_ juggle. You'll realize who you're dealing with before I kill you."

_'Did he just get Buggy to do what he wanted him to?'_ Nami wondered, '_How is he so good at handling pirates?'_

Buggy held the three knives out in front of him and tossed one up in the air, then threw the next one up after it before tossing the remaining knife to his other hand, allowing him to catch the first knife he had thrown. In seconds Buggy was expertly juggling the three knives, catching them by the handle, and throwing them up in the air.

"Go Captain Buggy!" the Buggy Pirates all cheered, clearly impressed by their captain's juggling.

"You call that juggling?" Ed taunted, not as impressed as the Buggy Pirates, "_I_ could do that. And I'm not even joking,. Anyone with basic hand-eye coordination could."

"Oh yeah!" Buggy shouted, "Men… more knives!"

A pirate threw another knife at Buggy, the clown pirate caught it and was suddenly juggling four knives. Another pirate threw a knife and Buggy was then juggling five knives. This kept going until Buggy was suddenly juggling TEN knifes in a large circle over his head.

"Yay! Captain Buggy!" Buggy's crew all cheered, even more impressed by their captain's skill with the sharp knives.

Nami stared in surprise as Buggy juggled the razor sharp knives. She cast a glance at the still tied-up pirate standing next to her. He noticed her looking and while Buggy and his crew were still distracted by Buggy's juggling feat, he flashed her the sly grin that she remembered from the marine base.

Nami stared at him in surprise, this _pirate_ had manipulated Buggy the Clown, the feared pirate of the East Blue, an infamous pirate worth 15,000,000 berries, to juggle for his own amusement. _'Did I pick the right guy to betray?'_ Nami thought to herself.

Ed turned back to Buggy, "I guess this proves you aren't completely incompetent," Ed reasoned, "but I'm still not impressed."

A split second later the ten knives Buggy had been juggling were imbedded in the ground around Ed. And while Nami had jumped back in surprise, the tied pirate hadn't moved an inch.

An instant later Ed was locked in a big iron cage, with his arms still tied.

"Who's incompetent _now_!" Buggy taunted as he stood in front of Ed's cage and mocked him. "BWAHAHAHAHA!"

_'Just keep laughing,' _Ed silently thought to Buggy, _'when Luffy and Zoro finally get here, you're going down, Clown.'_

* * *

Out by the docks a little boat pulled up. "We've finally arrived," Moe announced.

Luffy glanced around the empty town. "Where is everybody?"

"What an empty town," Zoro observed, "I don't see anyone around here."

"Well the truth is, the town was invaded by Captain Buggy," Moe explained. "That's why no one is here."

"So what are we going to tell the Captain when we return empty handed?" Lenny asked Moe.

"We have no choice but to tell him the truth," Moe answered, "besides, it's all that girl's fault."

"Where's this Buggy?" asked Luffy.

* * *

**And done! And i've been thinking should i make Ed a jinchuriki, not a biju one, mind you i mean a jinchuriki for devil that's not a part of the Jubi.**


	6. DF Theory, read if you want to

Devil Fruit theory: The devil fruits grant those who have eaten them powers similar to the jutsu's of the shinobi of the hidden village's. So, i think that the devil fruits themselves have their own chakra network, and when they're eaten the chakra flows into the eaters body, thus causing their chakra reserves to mutate to do different things, like in the case of chop chop fruit, Buggy,s body becomes a organic human puppet, allowing him to separate his bodyparts without injuring himself, so in theory a chakra negating weapon like Samehada is a perfect weapon to fight against a devil fruit user, also a jutsu or a seal that absorbs the target's chakra is a good method in subduing a devil fruit eater and so is a jutsu that traps the target in a mass of water, like the water prison technique. when submerged in water, the chakra network's power becomes unusable to the user, but as we've seen in luffy's case others can still extend his neck, incase he's in the bottom fully submerged in water like we saw in the arlong park saga's final battles in the show. And here are some examples to the three types of devil fruits.

Paramecia: works in same way that Akimichi and Kaguya clan's kekkei genkai works, altering their body structure. Reference: both the akimichi clans secret jutsu and Luffy's gum gum fruit powers alloew them to expand their body size. Example: The devil fruit that Magellan ate grants him a high affinity towards Dokuton, a poison release chakra type, thus allowing him to produce poison from his body and controlling it through his mind and chakra, if it's connencted to his body.

Zoan: Works in the same way that Sage mode and nature transformation works. Example: The Devil fruit that Kaku of the CP9 ate makes his body able to produce, giraffe natural chakra, the bad control of the natural chakra causes him transforming into a full giraffe instead of a hybrid that he was aiming for, thus Kaku had to seemingly use a technique to transform in to hybrid between a giraffe and his normal angled body, granting his head the reach of a giraffe and the blunt weapon (Kaku's nose, just enlarged).

Logia: Works in the same way that the Hydrofication jutsu of the Hozuki clan, that allows them to turn into water. Example: Caribou's Swamp Swamp Fruit, allowing Caribou to turn into a endless vaccum made of mud. Unlike most of the Logia type devil fruits, the swamp swamp fruit eater must absorb the attacks, instead of letting them pass through. You could say that Caribou is a a sealling scroll that has almost shown no limits so far.

So, what do you think is this a pretty good explanation? Say your own opinion and theories and please vote on the poll at my profile.


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